Stargate: Far Horizons
by Those Who Came Before
Summary: SG-1 finds a woman in stasis in an abandoned Goa'uld facility. Who is she, and what is her place in all this?
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Moros tried to keep it hidden, but with the city submerged it became harder than ever to keep things secret. Let alone something this big. Janus built his time machine, against the expressed wishes of the council, and a human from the future had somehow activated it. All they gave him was a slap on the wrist. Alberich seethed at the very notion. When he approached the council with his plan to end the war, they called his ideas barbaric and immoral. Threatened to exile him if he ever went through with the experiments. He cowed at the thought of being forced to live amongst those savages.

And yet the fact that a savage was able not only to activate the device, but to fly the gateship as well, was just more proof to his mind that his ideas had merit. He would drag them kicking and screaming out of the mud and to a greater purpose if he had too. But no, the council said stop. So he stopped, the fool. He wouldn't say he was friends with Janus, but they had worked together enough in the past that he felt comfortable approaching Janus with concerns the man might do something rash in retaliation for whatever punishment he was given. But his fellow scientist was no worse for wear, that same smile plastered on his face.

That was the last straw. If Janus could build something as reckless as a time machine with no consequences, some silly threat wouldn't stop him from carrying out his grand plan. Securing the resources for his project was easy. A few well practiced lies, expediting a work order or two, and he was able to have everything delivered to an old off-world research lab in a remote system on the edge of the galaxy.

He was lucky to have read the reports from that station years before. The sun in that system was giving off a unique radiation that prevented the formation of a stable hyperspace window in its vicinity. They had initially sought to study the phenomenon to weaponize it against the Wraith, but there was an accident. An Aurora class vessel was assisting the ground team with their endeavor, when something went wrong. The ship was damaged and it crashed on the planet below. Most of the crew survived, but the loss of a precious warship was too much for the council and they scrapped the project. The lab had been abandoned since, until now.

When Moros announced not a day later that they were to begin the final evacuation of Atlantis it felt like a punch in the gut. They were giving up. Letting the Wraith win. But not Alberich. He couldn't. Not after centuries of war. He would restore their legacy, even if the others were too afraid. He continued his preparations, and even tried to get the human, Weir, to tell him about the events of the future, anything to gain an advantage. But she spouted some nonsense about protecting the future, so he moved on.

It was easy enough to stay behind. The others were all so focused on themselves, and their own preparations to leave, that they never noticed him slink off. Once the final group was away, he was able to secure the final piece he needed. A ZPM.

He wasn't even supposed to know about it. But he knew one of the scientists on the team that constructed them and, with a little alcohol, was unable to keep a secret. Something that was always getting her into hot water with the council. It was built as a backup to the three installed in the city, if something ever went wrong. Thankfully it hadn't, and while it was well hidden, knowing where it was made it easy to find.

With ZPM in hand, he returned to the gate room, and dialed his new home. He hesitated before stepping through the gate. He didn't think leaving would be so hard. The city had been his home all his life. All his father's life. And his father before him. Just hours before he had felt so sure of his decision, but now staring into the void, he was afraid to jump. He would miss this place. And if by some miracle his plan actually worked, and he was able to win the war, he might be able to return. But that would be a long time coming. Taking a deep breath, and steeling his resolve, he stepped through the gate.

A/N

A bit of a short entry here, but they will get longer. This is something that's been floating around my brain for a while now. One of the things I really like about Stargate is how connected the lore is and how by the end of the series all the advanced technology earth has can be traced back to a previous episode. But there's a real divide between the first six seasons and the latter half in terms of integration I intend to fix. For example there is no mention of the ATA gene or ZPMs or any technology that requires either until the season 7 finale, other than Thor telling O'Neill his genetics are advanced after he is cloned and the ancient repository head-grabbers.

I have pretty grandiose plans for this fic and most of the big picture events planned out already and if I don't run out of time or inspiration this should carry through SG-1, Atlantis, and beyond(not SGU). This will mostly be told from the perspective of an OC, if its not your cup of tea I understand, but encourage you to give it a shot. I will also reference some of the events from the books. If you haven't read them, most of them are episodic but there is a series of them that picks up about six months after the Atlantis finale I would recommend.


	2. Chapter 2

Season 1:

The Shape of Things to Come

She awoke on a surface far more comfortable than she was expecting. She knew by now not to open her eyes, it would just let them know she was awake, so instead she listened. There was a rhythmical beeping coming from her right, must be a heart monitor, and a radio was nearby,going on about a thief and a joker. This was wrong. Last time the enemy woke her she came to on a stone slab, to the jab of a pain rod. Then she heard the rustling. Someone else was in the room with her. She gave it another moment, there was more rustling but little else. Consigning herself to the fact she would need to open her eyes to learn anything new, she slowly cracked them.

This was wrong too. She was in a concrete room, on a real bed. Across from her was a bald man in camouflage, he was facing away from her and leaning down to read something off a desk. Her eyes were drawn to his thigh, a pistol! It was different than she was accustomed to, but a pistol none the less. There was a needle in her arm that was connected to a drip bag, and she was wearing a scratchy gown that feel like it didn't completely covered her back. Shockingly she was also not strapped down, though judging by the straps on the sides of her bed it was till on the table.

She would need to act quickly, before the guard noticed her. Quietly pulling the needle out was easy. Sitting up she saw there was a small table by the head of her bed, a metal bedpan sitting atop it. Perfect for what was to come. Again quietly, she swung her feet over the side of the bed, grateful for the socks on her feet, that she now noticed had little grippers on the bottom. Standing, she grabbed the bedpan on the way up. It only took two long strides to get behind the man and swiftly bring the bedpan down on his head as hard as she could.

The guard crumpled at the hit, clearly unconscious. She crouched down next to him and waited a beat. When no other guards rushed the room, she began taking stock of what she had to work with. A quick search revealed a plastic card with a bar-code and the man's picture attached to the guards belt, the gun, and little else. The card must be the key to the metal door barring her exit from the room and the gun would give her a fighting chance against whatever forces the enemy had past the door. One problem down, one to go. Not intending to rush into battle ass cheeks on display, she began searching the cabinets along the walls for more suitable clothes. It was the third cabinet she searched where she found the scrubs. The green set were too big, but the blue set fit perfectly. She donned them in no time at all and moved to the door.

Before swiping the card, she stopped to look in the mirror above the sink in the corner. She looked tired, the bags under her eyes the biggest she'd seen them since she was still a student at the Academy. Aside from that, everything else seemed to still be in place. Pointy ears, check. Pastel blue hair that fell just past her shoulders, check. And the injection site in her arm was already healed, so that was still working as well. Taking a breath to steady herself, she turned back to the door.

She was halfway across the room before it hit her. What if this was all an elaborate trap, or trick, or more advanced form of torture. The pain and tormenting she could take, but this? If this was fake it would somehow be worse. Either way there was nothing she could do about it, so she continued. Swiping the card automatically opened the door, another small worry averted.

The door opened to a concrete hallway, she wasn't sure what she was expecting to see but looking back it should have been this. Left and right were both empty and identical as far as she could see. She chose left. As she continued down the hallway until it ended, passing other closed doors along the way. She was hoping for a sign on the wall, or a giant flashing arrow pointing to a door leading outside, but all she had was 'D-23' painted on the wall. Flipping another coin in her head she set off right.

She got a hundred feet down the hallway when two men in lab coats came out a door in front of her and started her directions. She couldn't hide in the empty hallway, and turning and running back the way she came would only draw their attention. With no other options, she tucked her head down, did her best to conceal the pistol behind her leg, and pressed forward.

As they got closer she could tell they were involved an a conversation of some kind. Good, that would mean they would be less likely to notice her; though now that they were closer she noticed their hair was brown. If everyone here had brown hair it would make blending in that much harder.

"... your right about its properties, it may be connected to the device SG-4 found on P3X-449," one was saying to the other. She had no idea what they meant or who SG-4 was but as they were passing she noticed that they lacked the forehead tattoo that marked soldiers of the enemy. Maybe scientists weren't required to get the mark? But the scientists that tormented her had possessed it, so that couldn't be the case. Another few steps and she was past them.

This hallway brought her to a four way intersection. Seeing no reason to turn she continued straight. That's when she heard the voice behind her, "Didn't we leave you in a bed?" Her blood immediately ran cold, someone must have turned behind her at the intersection. With no other choice, she ran. Another intersection; left, then right, then left again. She passed a few people, another voice shouted for her to stop, but she pressed on.

She knew her luck would eventually run out and she could tell exactly when it had. An alarm had started blaring. The logical part of her brain knew she was doomed, she was in an underground complex of some sort, or a secure concrete building, either way she knew she wasn't going to stumble across an open window. But she couldn't give up. Wouldn't. Another corner and she came to a T intersection with a hallway leading off to her right. Ahead she saw a group of people dressed the same as the bald man running at her with rifles. So right it was.

She didn't make it far before a massive metal door started to move out from the wall a hundred feet in front of her. Trapped. She quashed the panic that began to well up in her, there would be time for it later, but not now. She planned to take a left at an open door that would still be on her side of the massive door, but someone stepped out of it before she had the chance.

He was tall, a little bit taller than her, with floppy brown hair and glasses. He was looking at some papers in his hand, and most importantly, hadn't noticed her yet. With no way out, this would be be her last resort. She was able to grab him before he saw her. With an arm around his neck, she ignored his surprised exclamation, and brought the gun to bear on her pursuers. Taking stock, she saw that they had stopped at the intersection, two men were kneeling at the corners and another two were standing, all leaning out with rifles. There was no way she could take all of them, not like this, even if she could take a few hits before they brought her down. Changing tactics, she pulled the gun back to point at her new hostage, who was gratefully not fighting her.

The panic was rising again, and it was much harder to quash it this time. Her pursuers hadn't made a move yet, and so she wouldn't either. Then it happened, a man with graying hair poked his head around the corner before fully stepping out, pistol aimed at her. When he spoke she recognized his voice as the first man who had recognized her, but she was surprised at what he said, "Daniel." She was taken aback, until the man she was holding responded, "Jack." The first man, Jack she assumed, made a face at Daniel she didn't understand, as if she was witnessing the middle of an ongoing argument and this swung things back in Jack's favor.

She momentarily contemplated saying something, some demand, when she wasn't immediately addressed, but was saved from the decision when he spoke first, "Hey there, nice to see you up and about." Again, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. She took a moment to respond, what was his game? This had to be a trap, she just couldn't see how, and again, there was no tattoo. There was that panic again. She finally decided on the direct approach. "Let me go and your friend lives. And any more of my people you're holding," she thought to add.

Jack looked like he wanted to respond, but Daniel beat him to it, "Lets not do anything hasty, we can all lower our guns and talk this out." the way he said it made her want to go along with it, if they could all talk this out, reason with them, maybe they would still let her go.

No, it was a trap, it had to be. She couldn't let them get her, she didn't know how much more she could take. Jack must have seen something in her face, because he spoke again, "Whats your name? I'm Jack." That was a fairly innocent question, and the others never bothered to ask her anything, only pain. Without a reason not to, she answered, "Eleskara of Trevel." He nodded his head before speaking again, "Eleskara, mind if I call you Eleskara?" he asked, and then, without waiting for a reply, he continued, "You seem to think you're in a pretty bad place, maybe I can explain our side of things, and poor Daniel here can come out of this in one piece," he said with a reassuring nod, lowering his aim but not dropping it entirely.

That wasn't so unreasonable, she decided. They wanted to talk, and if they had really wanted to they could have taken a shot at her already. They hadn't, and even now a woman with blonde hair had stepped out around the corner without a weapon and, judging by the look on her face, seemed more concerned with Daniel than the fact that Eleskara held a gun. So she nodded.

"We found you on a planet we call P3R-677, alone. We were searching for evidence of Goa'uld activity on the planet and found a lab. Looked abandoned; dust everywhere, half the lights out, that sort of thing," he said, and by the look on the woman's face he rambled like this a lot. "We found you in stasis, another few weeks and the power would've gone. We didn't want to leave you there, so we brought you back with us, to Earth. You've been unconscious for a week and a half; did I miss anything Daniel?" he asked, and Daniel responded, "No. That's about it, maybe 'we come in peace?'" he added.

They had her, it was either the most elaborate setup the enemy could have constructed or they were telling the truth. And she really wanted them to be telling the truth. She didn't know what a Goa'uld was, but that could come later. She had already let go of Daniel and was lowering the gun when he turned the corner. Tall, imposing, and with a shiny gold insignia stamped on his forehead. And just like that, it all fell apart; and this time she couldn't stop the panic. "He's one of them!" she nearly shouted, bringing the gun to bear on him. Before she could pull the trigger Jack, Daniel and the blonde woman, who had still been silent up to this point, all jumped between the two each shouting to wait in their own way. The enemy soldier for his part stopped, but made no move to defend himself, and then spoke,"I once served Apophis, but I can assure you, he is a false god." Jack nodded at that and added, "it's OK, he's with us." She believed them, but found she still hadn't lowered her gun.

Of the three people in front of her, she hadn't expected it to be Daniel who reached out to her. First to help her lower the gun, and then, once it was lowered, he took it, handing it back to Jack. And with that it felt like a dam had broken. She wasn't sure if it was a conscious decision or if she simply collapsed, but she found herself on the floor, and she must have pulled Daniel with her because he was there too, and she finally allowed herself to break down.

She got herself under control quickly, a small victory, and stood back up, wiping her cheeks. "Now that that's settled, how about we get you back to the infirmary before ol' Doc Fraiser sends a search party. And somebody turn that damn alarm off," he shouted nebulously to someone behind him. Eleskara wasn't sure if she was up to speaking yet, and so just nodded. "Alright, and Carter, better let the General know our guest is awake," Jack said. The blonde nodded said "Yes,sir," and left, the others led her back the way she came.

When she reentered the infirmary a brunette woman in a white coat was tending to her former guard, who was now up on his own bed, so she moved to sit on hers. The woman must have just been finishing up, because she moved toward Eleskara almost immediately, "Nice to see you finally awake," she said, with a look toward Jack, who nodded reassuringly at her, "I'm Doctor Fraiser, but you can call me Janet. How do you feel?" she asked. "Fine," Eleskara responded truthfully. Janet just rolled her eyes and looked at Jack, she must get that a lot. "Alright, but I still need to give you a once over," Janet said, moving off to collect what she needed.

"So while we're waiting, tell me, how'd you manage to get the drop on Jennings?" Jack asked, motioning to the unconscious man with his head. "He was looking at something on that desk, with his back to me," she told them. "And the restraints?" he continued. She shrugged before answering, "They weren't on when I woke up." He shook his head at that, "Unbelievable".

Now that she knew these weren't the same people as the enemy, she felt bad for the man on the bed. In the moment she had felt concern for her life, but now? "I can see to him, if you haven't already," she offered to Janet. The doctor seemed confused by her offer, "You didn't break the skin, I'll need to do some scans when he wakes up, but until he then there's not much we can do." Now it was Eleskara's turn to be confused. She had offered to heal the man, but the doctor had responded about further treatment. Did they not possess the same healing ability she did?

She stood, and approached the man. Jack tensed, but quickly relaxed. Reaching out, she grasped the man's forearm and closed her eyes. This always required a lot of concentration for her. Healing others never came naturally to her, the Defense Force could have helped her hone the skill, but it had never felt necessary. Reaching down into herself she felt the healing energy, and forced it to flow up and into Jennings.

It took only a moment. When it was done, she let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead. "Concussions are tricky, but he should be fine when he wakes up," she told the doctor. "You healed him?" Janet asked, putting down the supplies she had gathered so far and coming to stand beside her, the others had seemed surprised too. She pulled a pen light out of her coat and pulled an eyelid up while shining the light into it. She must have been impressed with what she saw because she turned back to Eleskara and said "Incredible."

She was saved from any further questions when a bald man in dress uniform and the blonde woman from before entered the room. "I understand you had a bit of an exciting awakening, now that that that's out of the way we can get to introductions. I am General George Hammond, I run this facility," he said. "Eleskara of Trevel," she told them again. He smiled at that, "That's a bit of a mouthful, do you have something shorter?" he asked good-naturedly. She paused at that, she was never close enough to anyone to have a nickname outside of what her parents had called her growing up. The blonde must have seen her hesitation, and offered "What about just Kara?" The others turned toward her at that and so she continued "What? I like Supergirl," she said in her defense. Eleskara wasn't sure what that meant, but it seemed to satisfy the others. Though the enemy soldier didn't react either, so it must have been cultural. "Kara works," she said.

"As for the rest of us, I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, two L's; that's Captain Samantha Carter, Daniel Jackson, and Teal'c," Jack, O'Neill she corrected herself, said indicating to the others as he went. "Hi," she said, suddenly awkward. "And sorry about that whole incident in the hallway," she said mostly to Daniel. "I hear the Colonel already told you what happened from our side, I was hoping you might be able to do the same with yours," Hammond said. Kara nodded. She could do that, but after using one of them as a hostage maybe it wasn't the right time for the whole truth.

"I'm from the planet Cuivien. An Operative in the Planetary Defense Force. There were myths and stories on my world about the Ancestral Ring, but no one really believed them. We found it about five years ago, with a list of several addresses. It was moved to the military base in our capital and we managed to start sending teams through the ring almost a year ago. Most of the worlds we visited were uninhabited, but one wasn't. They spoke a language we didn't understand and were immediately hostile. I was on the team that made first contact. We fought our best, but they had some sort of stun weapons that could take you down in a single hit." Kara began.

At the mention of the strange weapon those in the room turned to Teal'c for an explanation, which he provided. "A Zat'nik'tel. A handheld weapon not generally favored by the Jaffa of Chulak." rather than jump back into the story, she asked for clarification, "And you're a Jaffa?" she asked. He bowed his head in response, "And the guys with glowing eyes?" she continued. "A Goa'uld," he replied, and O'Neill jumped in to add "They're snake-like parasites. They Burrow in the back of your neck and take control of you. Causes glowing eyes, deep voice, cliche behavior," he said, trailing off at the end. Janet was also waiting for a break in the story, choosing now to begin her examination, Kara continued anyway.

"They brought us all to a holding cell on one of their ships, and one by one they came and moved us to a different room. I was the last. They brought me to a room full of Jaffa and a Goa'uld. My team was unbound and just standing there, I wasn't sure what was happening. The must have implanted a Goa'uld while I was confused; I felt a sharp pain in my neck and my body stopped responding. I stood up despite myself, but something went wrong. There was a burning in my neck and I collapsed.

"I came to in a new room I hadn't seen before, alone. They left me in there for days, but the guards on the other side of the door were chatty. I don't know all the details, but there was an attack on my homeworld. When they eventually moved me it was to the facility where you must have found me. They left me in a similar cell, coming in to torture me, and take samples. I never found out what they wanted, or why they were studying me." she said, suppressing a shudder.

It was Teal'c who broke the silence, "It is not unheard of for some species to be biologically incompatible with the Goa'uld symbiote. In these cases they are likely to both perish together. The Goa'uld often view such events harshly and retaliate against the species, so as to prevent another failed bonding." Daniel seemed to remember something at that moment and began patting his pockets, looking for something. He produced a notepad and pen, handing them to Kara "Do you remember the Goa'uld's symbol?" he asked in way of an explanation. She did, and drew the symbol for him, a sun inside a starburst.

Daniel took it back when she finished and showed it to Teal'c. "The symbol of Belatucadrus," Teal'c provided. At that all heads turned back to Daniel, who supplied "a minor Celtic deity, often associated with war." And all heads swiveled back to Teal'c, who continued "He was a minor Goa'uld in service to Camulus. He betrayed his master to gain the favor of Cronus, unaware the two had already allied. The alliance hunted him down and he was killed in battle. Belatucadrus has been dead for almost one hundred and fifty years."

No. No no no. It had been months, not a century and a half. It couldn't have been. "How is that possible?" she asked, still stunned at the revelation. This time it was Carter who answered, "The stasis chamber we found you in considerably slowed the aging process, so in theory it is possible." If that was the case then she needed to get back as soon as possible. "I need to get back," and suddenly a new problem occurred to her," I'm not a prisoner, am I?" Hammond's smile reassured her before he answered, "No, you're not a prisoner. I can understand your rush to return, once Dr. Fraiser finishes her her exam we can escort you to the gate room."

"I'm about done here, and from what I can tell she's in almost perfect health," Janet informed them. "Then If that's settled, we can escort you to the gate room now," Hammond offered. "Alright, and you called it a 'gate," do you refer to the Ancestral Ring?" she asked as they started to file out of the room. "The coverstone we found buried with it described it as a Stargate, so gate," Daniel supplied from behind her. "Makes sense," she offered in return.

The walk to the elevators on the floor was short, if only she had gone right from the beginning. There were enough of them to take two elevators down five levels to the gate room. What she hadn't expected was the control room she was led into. It was full of computers that looked to be about the same as what she would see back home, but what she didn't see was the dialing device. Hammond must have seen her looking for it, "We never found the DHD for our Stargate, we had to construct this instead. This is Sergeant Harriman, if you could provide him the address," he said, indicating to a short haired man sitting at the computer.

She moved over to him and pointed out the symbols to the address for home. They should have come up with some sort of naming convention for the symbols, it would have made the whole process so much easier. Once she was done, she took a step back. "Chevron one engaged…" he began, and did the same for the next five. When he got to the seventh symbol, the gate spun to the correct position but instead of opening the wormhole, the lights on the gate winked out. "Chevron seven, will not lock." he finished.

This wasn't necessarily bad she reasoned, any number of things could have prevented the ring from connecting. "Try it again," Hammond ordered. Again the seventh chevron failed to engage. "That sucks," she said flatly.

"We can keep trying, but for now you're more than welcome to stay with us for as long as you like," Hammond offered. She sighed. She had gotten her hopes up on the walk down, but there were definitely worse places to be stuck. And she wasn't being tortured again, so there was that. "Thank you, General," she said. A lot can happen in one hundred and fifty years, maybe the gate had just become incredibly busy, she thought to herself. Deep down she knew the truth.

A/N

_By the end of the series there were a billion and one gate teams, but they all had their own specializations and I could never keep track. To simplify it I'm dividing them up. SG will designate an exploration team. The others will be pretty obvious; marine team, science team, diplomatic team, etc._

_As for the story, some chapters will be more stand alone; some new material, some episodes revisited but with a twist. I've always been a fan of the episodes where they get stuck somewhere for a prolonged period of time, but they generally get wrapped up pretty quickly in the show so I'm going to explore them more in this fic, be that multi-chapter arcs or by playing with the genre. I don't have a backlog, so I'll be uploading as I go. Hopefully new chapters will go up every four to five days._


	3. Chapter 3

Season 1:

The Shape of Things to Come

They had tried to dial Cuivien three more times before she told them to stop. What was the point? She could put two and two together, and judging by the looks on their faces when she said it, so could they. It had been a week since she'd woken up. Kara had initially been concerned that they were just taking pity on her when they offered to let her stay, but the more time she spent among them the more she realized how genuine they were in the offer.

She wasn't expecting the quality of the room she was given, how large it was. Life on Cuivien was far more spartan, 'for the good of the empire' they said. Something like this would have been considered a waste of space. Not that she was complaining. They had even provided the standard issue clothes for her that everyone here wore, and she was grateful. Her clothes weren't in great shape anymore, so there hadn't been much of a dilemma choosing between the two.

Life on base wasn't hard to adjust to, military life was military life, apparently. Janet had approached her shortly after she had gotten settled, inquiring about her ability. She had wanted to study it, to see if it was something that could be replicated or could improve their medicine. Kara had, of course, agreed; a few needles was nothing compared to what these people were doing for her.

The project quickly expanded. As soon as Janet began a more thorough examination of her blood she saw something that intrigued her. Which led to reexamining the initial samples she had taken from Kara before she woke up. Which led to more samples and more tests. She never explained what it was that intrigued her, just asked some leading questions and said that she had a theory she wanted to test before saying anything more. Kara didn't mind, it gave her an excuse to spend more time with the woman. She could use a friend, especially if she was staying for any period of time, which was looking more and more likely.

Janet had told her it would take time to work out her theory, so they were able to move back toward studying her ability. Truth be told, Kara wasn't exactly sure how it worked either. There had been studies done on it before, but no one had reached a conclusion. Medicine on Cuivien was not nearly as advanced as it was here, for obvious reasons. The base infirmary would have been the most advanced care facility there. If Janet could find an answer it would give her something to return home with at least. If there was still a home to return to.

She wasn't spending all her time in the lab though. She had decided rather early on if she was going to be staying here for any considerable amount of time she should immerse herself in these people. Her afternoons were spent in the lab, when Janet had the time for their project, but her mornings were spent reading. She had approached Daniel on day two requesting recommendations on where to start. He was more than willing, even brought her to his lab to give her what he had on hand.

She had been surprised by how messy it was, but he just moved right to a stack of books buried under some papers to procure what he was looking for. An American history book, he had said, a publishing company had sent it to him to review. Apparently there was another Daniel Jackson somewhere out there who was a doctor of history and he was always getting the guy's mail. She had asked about science as well, to gain a better understanding of where these people were compared to hers. He couldn't help her there, but said that Sam could. So she had set off to find her, but not before Daniel had told her to come by after she finished that book for a new one. So she had thanked him and left.

Carter was just as willing, she hadn't had anything basic, like Daniel, but that was OK. Kara had never been one for chemistry or biology, her position had required more technical knowledge, and Carter had those books in abundance. She had always been a quick study, and quickly finished both books. Going back for more had turned into a conversation, which evolved into spending her mornings in one of their labs, equal parts reading and questions. With Daniel it was answering them, his fascination with cultures, and she was more than willing to answer them. With Carter it was asking them, whatever she was confused about. She never asked them anything about what either of them were working on though. She enjoyed their conversations and didn't want to make it awkward between them if they couldn't talk about their work. Plus she didn't have an airman following her around while she was with them.

On day five Janet had expressed an interest in the differences between their two species, so they moved on to some tests to determine things like physical strength and agility. The Jaffa, she had explained, were stronger than humans. All this, along with her research findings, she had wanted to present to the General and SG-1. If these people found her so fascinating, Kara didn't mind.

When she arrived at Daniel's lab for the day, he looked up and smiled at her, "Good. I was hoping you would come by today," he started. He turned around and began shuffling through some papers, returning with four pages. "We recently returned from a planet that, we believe, used to serve as a meeting place for four different alien races. I was hoping you could look at these and tell me if you recognize the languages," he told her handing over the papers he was holding. A quick glance at the first three was all she needed to know she had never seen them before, it was the fourth that caught her attention. She had seen it before. "This one," she began, turning the page to show him the blocky script on it. "It looks like a dead language that was spoken on Cuivien thousands of years ago. I'm not an expert, but it's remarkably close," she told him. "Can you read it?" he asked. She shook her head at the question, "No one can."

He was about to ask a follow up question, but was interrupted by the ringing from his phone. He answered and gave an affirmative before turning back to her, "They're ready for us in the briefing room." She put the paper she was holding back with the others and followed him out of the room. She was getting accustomed to the facility and was proud of the fact it had been three days since she had gotten lost, but she still let Daniel take the lead.

They quickly arrived at their destination. Walking into the room, she saw they were the last to arrive. Hammond was at the head of the table, O'Neill to his right, Teal'c beside him. Carter and Janet were across from them. Daniel took the open seat beside Teal'c and Kara went around to sit beside Janet. Hammond spoke first, motioning for Janet to begin, "Now that we are all here, let's begin."

"Evolution isn't a perfect process. As a result there are some sections of our DNA that serve no function, and while it varies individual to individual the DNA itself is consistent," she began. "When I started examining Kara's, I noticed something peculiar. We share a large percentage of our DNA, but Kara appears to have very little of this junk DNA. On top of that, I noticed two segments that were radically different from both each other and the rest." The table was quiet for a beat before Hammond asked the question everyone must have been thinking, "What are you saying doctor?"

"Well, from what I gather and what Kara has told me, I believe that at some point in the past portions of her species DNA may have been altered." Questions began flying across her mind immediately. Who could have done such a thing? When? Why? She didn't voice any of them, Janet didn't have the answers any more than she did. The others were looking at her. At some point her mouth had started floundering, she shut it. Then it struck her, "The paper."

"What paper?" O'Neill asked carefully. "Right before we came down. Daniel had just showed me the writing you recovered from the meeting place. Four alien races, and I recognized one of the languages. It hasn't been spoken for thousands of years. We don't know anything about the people who spoke it, just called them the First People. It must have been them," she finished. "One question answered, and a million more pop up," Daniel said. Kara couldn't help but feel the same.

"As fascinating as that is Doctor, what else did you find?" Hammond asked. Kara was initially taken aback by his reaction to the revelation, but this was a military operation. Compartmentalize and move on. She had been captive for too long; she was losing her edge; so she focused and moved on. "I wasn't able to fully determine how her healing ability works," Janet continued.

At least this part Kara already knew. "It is at least partially biological, but I can't explain the how or why of it. My one insight is that when Kara heals, her brain activity spikes; well above any readings ever taken from a human." She admired Janet for taking the initiative, but she had always thought this would be the outcome.

"All Venfiri possess the ability, to one degree or another. And it seems to vary between us. It takes me almost no effort to heal myself, just time; healing others is much more of a challenge. Healing something like a broken bone makes me feel tired and out of breath. My mother was the opposite," Kara reflected with a smile,"She could heal others as easily as I heal myself. She described it as opening a door and the energy would just rush out. I feel like I have to force it," Kara finished.

The others all seemed to be mulling over the information she shared, except Teal'c, he had the same stoic expression as always. If there was some subtlety to it she hadn't noticed yet. She told herself that the opportunity had just not presented itself to speak with him, that she wasn't avoiding him. She may have been avoiding him, but who could blame her.

"The last thing I wanted to mention was her physical strength," Janet said, bringing the others back to the moment. On paper she is no stronger than us. In reality, the human body limits itself. If you used all your strength all the time you would hurt yourself, this is why you hear stories of mothers being able to lift cars to save their children," she explained. "I understand Kara has the same limits, but she is more easily able to ignore them; the benefits of being able to heal yourself immediately."

Hammond nodded at that,"Anything else?" Kara thought for a moment, that was everything she and Janet had examined, and she wasn't ready to tell the others about her other ability. "We are relativity unaffected by extreme temperatures," Kara said with a shrug, the only other thing she could think of. "Alright, if that is all, dismissed," Hammond said.

She was sure Daniel would have more questions for her later, and she would happily answer them, but SG-1 was called away. She didn't know the full details, but it was something to do with Teal'c's son. The team was gone about a day. They were all in good spirits and uninjured when they returned, mission success. She still didn't ask for details.

She continued her routine, and before she realized, another week had passed. She would still stop by the infirmary occasionally to speak with Janet, it was nice to talk with her without the experiments between them. She found herself, again, in Daniel's office when the call came in. She was reading, and heard him answer the phone. "Yes. Yes. I'll be right there," he said into it. "Some colleagues of mine found something interesting in Mexico. They apparently thought of me when they saw it, had it shipped here. Want to come with?" he asked. "What was it?" she asked, following him out.

"An Egyptian sarcophagus found halfway around the world," he answered, leading her down to the gate room. She had learned enough about Earth by now to be familiar with the places he was telling her about, and had to agree with him, it was interesting. Her first thought when she saw it was that it certainly was gaudy. Ten feet long and looked to be made of gold. Daniel wasted no time beginning his examination, studying the hieroglyphs along its top, Carter and Hammond joined them shortly.

It looked familiar, she'd seen this somewhere before. Not this one obviously, but another like it. She reached out and activated the mechanism, causing the lid to split and open. "Oh," he exclaimed, stepping back. "I woke up in one of these once," she explained. She still wasn't exactly sure what it did or why. "I've seen one before too; Ra had one, it could bring people back from the dead. And the interior looks a lot like the chamber we found you in," Daniel told her.

They were interrupted by an airman, "Someone was detained at the surface," she told them. Worse, they knew the Stargate was here. Kara could understand wanting to keep the knowledge of the gate from the general populous, no need for them to constantly worry about attack from above; so she could understand their concern at this fact.

The others left to deal with the situation and Kara found her way to the commissary for lunch. She was told the food here was of a lesser quality than the surface, but she didn't mind it. Once she finished, she made her way to the infirmary. She had just finished helping Janet heal a patient, a member of SG-3 who had twisted his ankle, when Carter walked in.

She seemed concerned about something, and did a quick sweep of the room before voicing it, "Have either of you noticed the men on base acting strangely?" Kara shook her head no, but then she hadn't really interacted with anyone since they had parted earlier in the day. "No I haven't, why? Whats your concern?" Janet asked.

"I Don't know. Ever since that woman was detained it feels like something's off. She claims to be Hathor, and the General just offered to give her a tour of the base," she explained. "Wait, Hathor?" Kara asked, "She was an Egyptian goddess, right?" Janet seemed surprised she knew that, "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Since the Goa'uld took so much inspiration from your world's mythology I thought I should read up on it," Kara answered. "Not a bad idea," Janet told her. "I think she's a Goa'uld. Do you mind if I use your computer?" Carter asked. "No, not at all," Janet replied.

Kara was aware of the internet, but for security reason they hadn't allowed her to use it. She could tell Carter was proficient and it took no time at all to find what she was looking for. It was another few minutes while she read the page before she presented her findings to the room.

"According to this, Hathor was said to have the ability to control men. The way it's described here sounds a lot like what happened in the briefing room. Kara, you said you were in the military; that included combat training, right?" Kara nodded, seeing what Carter was getting at, "I didn't really want to go into the details right after holding a gun to Daniel's head, but I can hold my own. Now, how do we reverse the effect and stop Hathor?" Janet was about to answer, but stopped when two male airman entered. One came to a stop in front of Kara and the other by Carter.

"We have been ordered to escort you to a holding cell on level 26, you need to come with us now," the one by Carter said. She rose to speak with the man, "Who's orders?" she demanded. "General Hammond's," the man said threateningly.

With that, they both raised their weapons. She certainly hadn't been expecting such a show of force. Kara chanced a glance at Carter. The woman didn't look happy. Before Kara looked away Carter met her eye. If she had been Venfiri, Kara knew exactly what that look meant. She hoped it meant the same in humans.

First, her hand came up to redirect the gun barrel, a twist, and the man was over shoulder. A quick drop with a punch to the head stopped him from getting back up. Looking up, she saw Carter was taking her man down as well. "Why would they want to detain us?" Janet asked. She was farther back than she had been before, she must have flinched back during the scuffle.

"Hathor must have more control than I thought. She could have the whole base under her control by now," Carter said, moving to the door. A quick pop out and she was back. "The hallway is clear for now," she said, bending to pick up the downed man's weapon. "Do you know how to use one of these?" she asked Kara. "Give me a once over and I'll be good to go," she answered.

It was a straightforward weapon, an MP5, Carter called it. She had used something similar before. "OK, whats the plan?" she asked once she had a grip on the weapon. "We need to know what Hathor is planning. Assume all the men are hostile. If they are rounding up everyone Hathor can't control, we may be the only ones left who can stop her. We can't shoot our own, but if we see Hathor, lethal force," Carter said. "I'll take point; Janet, you after me. Kara can you watch out six?" When Kara nodded they moved out.

"If they are moving everyone down to level 26, that may be where Hathor is operating," Carter said over her shoulder to them when they stopped at the next intersection. "There's an access shaft this way, we can't risk the elevators or the stairs; hopefully Hathor doesn't know to have it guarded," she said. Verifying the hallways were still empty, they turned left and continued forward.

It was funny, Kara thought to herself, what difference two weeks can make. Here she was, sneaking around again. Before she had been confused and scared, now though, she was prepared, she knew where she was going and what needed to be done. She was back in her element.

She could see the access hatch at the intersection in front of them when the first shot rang out, it went over their heads, into the wall. Carter broke right, turning down the hallway. Kara hadn't been expecting them to open fire like that, they really weren't playing around. "Move!" Carter shouted.

It couldn't have been more than twenty feet past the turn before she pulled up short. Three more men were already in front of them, weapons raised. They were trapped. If they were all taken, what chance did these people have? She couldn't let that happen. She Shifted.

She hadn't told them she could do this for the same reason she hadn't told them what she did for the Defense Force. They had welcomed her with open arms. Sure there had been a guard assigned to her, but she couldn't begrudge them that; plus, it had been helpful for the first few days to have someone following her around who knew their way around the facility. It wasn't worth keeping the secret if these people would suffer for it.

Shifting didn't make her physically disappear. It affected the minds of those around her. Made peoples eyes slide off her, past her, without true comprehension. It gave her the chance to dive through the open door to her left before anyone in the hallway realized she was there. A roll brought her deeper into the room; three steps, sliding under a desk.

There was shouting. The others were being detained. She heard Carter drop her weapon. They were being led away. She held her breath when someone entered the office she was in. They only stayed for a moment. She never saw them, so they couldn't have done a thorough search. Once they were gone she released her breath. Alone, surrounded by the enemy; wasn't the first time she told herself.

She waited in the office for what felt like forever. She couldn't move too quickly; she knew where Carter and Janet were being taken, holding cells on level 26. she knew she couldn't rescue them before they were left there, too many guards. Once they were safely locked away though? Two, maybe three, and the only one in danger would be herself.

That should be long enough, she thought to herself. She peeked out before standing. She still hadn't heard any activity from the hallway, but she still checked before stepping out. Clear. It was only feet back to the hatch, grateful to find it clear as well. The wheel to open the door was easier to spin than she had expected, and was grateful that the hatch didn't squeal when she opened it.

It was well lit, thankfully, with a ladder on the far wall, and a shaft going up and down. She stepped in and started her descent, grateful the MP5 had a sling. She quickly moved down the three levels, to the hatch with 26 painted above it. Any other floor and she would have been groping in the dark, but she was very familiar with level 26. It was primarily living quarters, including hers. It was strange, aside from the living quarters there were some storage rooms, but little else. Why were they being brought here when she knew there actual holding cells somewhere. Could some part of Hammond be resisting?

So, if they were on this level it had to be one of the storage rooms, she reasoned. She knew where the hatch would come out, it took only a moment to recall where the nearest storage room would be. Mental map in place, she slowly opened the hatch.

She emerged into an empty hallway. She didn't know how many people were actually stationed here, but there were enough that she was surprised she made it to the room without seeing anyone. Empty. Another second and she was off to the next. This time she heard movement coming from the hall she needed. Someone was coming.

She pressed her back to the wall at the corner. Two armed men walked past her without speaking and kept going. Once they were past, she chanced a look down the hallway. She was still Shifted, so the chances of detection were much lower, but she was still careful. There was a lone man standing just to the right of the door she was headed for. Kara was wearing the same green pants and jacket that was common on base; If she sprinted at him the chances he would see her were greatly increased, better to slowly approach. He would think her any other member of the base, if he even noticed anything at all.

She walked confidently toward him. She was only a few feet away when a banging on the door caused him to turn left toward it. The perfect opportunity. She slipped her arms around his neck, a sleeper hold. The man reached up to pull her arms away, but quickly lost consciousness. She did her best to keep his head from hitting the ground when he slumped. She was able to use the key ring he had on his belt to open the door, dropping her Shift as she did so.

Carter nearly jumped out at her when the door was open, stopping when she recognized Kara, "Where did you go?" A fair question Kara reasoned, "I still had a trick up my sleeve, I'll tell you all about it once this is over. For now, help me with him," she replied. Kara took the man's arms while Carter took his feet, carrying him into the room. Now that she was inside, she saw that Janet and three other women she didn't know were also here.

"Kara!" Janet exclaimed. Kara nodded hello, then addressed the gathered crowd, "Alright, I've only seen this guy and two others since you got taken. Do you know where everyone else is, or what they're doing?" One of the woman Kara was unfamiliar with spoke,

"When they were bringing me down I heard one of them say they had Teal'c trapped in the gym, on level 21." Was he not affected? "His symbiote must protect him from whatever Hathor uses to control people," Janet said, answering her unasked question.

"When they were bringing us down there was a larger group that separated at level 25," Carter offered. "It could be where Hathor is." It made sense, Kara reasoned. She almost opened her mouth to start issuing orders, but stopped. It wasn't her place. "OK, you three go up, do what you can to get Teal'c out. The rest of us will head to 25," Carter ordered. One of the three checked the hallway before they left. Carter picked up the unconscious mans weapon. "Alright, us now."

She led them to the stairwell. Another quick check and they started up, the same formation as before. She wasn't sure what the plan was once they got there, it would be just as easy for them to get captured as before. Carter was starting to lead them left out the door when she stopped them, "Shhh, hear that?" she asked. There was a squealing, splashing sound coming from a room on their right. "What is that room?" Kara asked. "A locker room." Carter said, trepidation in her voice.

They entered slowly. It looked like any locker room Kara was familiar with, with the exception of the center of the room. O'Neill sat in a large metal tub full of thrashing, bubbling water; full of Goa'uld. "Help me with him," Carter said. She moved to his left, while Kara took his right. It was easy enough to get him out, but he looked to be in bad shape. That was when they both noticed the X pattern cut into his lower stomach.

Janet took the initiative, she reached her hand into O'Neill's new symbiote pouch. Or at least she assumed it was new, based on how the other two reacted. "It's empty," Janet told them, pulling her hand out. "Can you do something?" Carter asked Kara. She reached her hand out, grabbing hold of his arm. She couldn't use her power to determine exactly what was wrong with a person, but she was able to get a more general sense of their health. O'Neill was in a very bad way.

She shook her head, "This is beyond me." Carter hid her dejection well. They stood there in silence for a moment before it came to her, and Carter at the same time, "The sarcophagus!" they both said in tandem. "It could work," Janet said, "we need to hurry; he's lost his immune system." Kara shared a look with Carter, "I'll carry him, it'll be easier for me."

Kara handed her weapon to Janet before picking him up. The trek to the gate room was, thankfully, uneventful. O'Neill was uncomfortably heavy for her, but she managed. The sarcophagus was left open from the morning, and she was able to deposit O'Neill, quickly if not gently, while Carter activated the mechanism.

It was the look on Janet's face that gave them away. She spun her head in time to see two men in the doorway, raising their weapons. Carter was able to duck behind the head of of the sarcophagus, Janet had gone to the far side and only had to duck, Kara was still on the near side; out in the open. She knew she didn't have time to to go around, she would have to go over.

She used her right arm to brace herself as she vaulted over it. The men began firing while she was still moving. The first few rounds went wide, she didn't know exactly how many they fired. She thought she was in the clear when it hit her. Right through her upper arm.

Her arm stopped supporting her, and instead of the graceful landing she had been planning, she fell the remaining distance. She came down hard on her shoulder with a hiss of pain. Janet crawled over trying to help her, "I'll be fine," she told her. They couldn't sit here forever. The men were still firing but all they would have to do is step around it and they would have nowhere to run.

She was still trying to formulate a plan when the lid began to open. O'Neill sat up, right into fire. His instincts must have kicked in, he leapt out, landing beside her. "Cease Fire," a deep voice bellowed from across the room. She chanced a glance over the lid, a woman in a gold dress stood between the men. It must have been Hathor.

Hathor raised her hand and now Kara could tell she had some sort of device on it. O'Neill had peeked over too, and at the sight of the device ducked back down. She assumed that meant it was dangerous and did the same, just in time. An energy blast hit the sarcophagus, it was shoved slightly toward her, and she felt herself thrown slightly in turn.

O'Neill wasted no time, rolling out of cover to open the door close to them before ducking back into cover. It was a rather large door and took a moment to open. She was still using the sarcophagus as cover, and so couldn't see its current state, but she could definitely hear the energy buildup start. They didn't have much time.

They made their break for it before the door was fully open. Kara waited, making sure the others made it through before moving herself. O'Neill was the last one through. It all seemed to happen at once; he hit the button to close the door, tackled her to the ground, all while the sarcophagus exploded behind them.

The door sealed itself, buying them time. They stood quickly, "You're hit," he said to her. "Another few minutes and you won't even be able to tell," she told him. The bleeding had stopped before he had even gotten out of the sarcophagus. "Are you alright, sir?" Carter asked him. "Never better, now armory, let's move."

They didn't have far to go. He led them around the corner and through a door. She recognized the MP5s and the handguns she didn't think to ask the name of, and more along the walls. O'Neill went for a crate against the back wall. He moved it onto one of the two benches that ran the length of the room.

When he popped the lid open she could see that these were different, "Tranquilizers," he explained, picking one out and handing it to Carter. He did the same for Janet. He picked up a third one, but instead of handing it to her he asked, "You good?" She flexed her arm experimentally, it was still sore, but that would only last for another minute or two. "I'm good," she answered, accepting the offered weapon.

"The plan is to draw Hathor out. I'm thinking we destroy that tub, and wait for her to come to us," O'Neill said. "I agree," Carter added. Kara simply nodded. Janet looked a little out of her element, but was handling the weapon competently enough. Another quick explanation about the tranquilizer gun from Carter and they were moving.

They only encountered three men on the way back up to the locker room, a single shot and they went down quick. There were five men in the room, standing in a semi-circle around the tub, which was occupied by Hathor. So much for drawing her out. Kara took the two on the left, the others took the other three, but she wasn't sure who actually made the shots.

Hathor's eyes flashed but she otherwise hadn't reacted, simply stayed sitting in the tub, while the rest circled around her. Carter and Kara switched back to their MP5s, "Get up," O'Neill ordered. When she didn't comply, he fired a dart into her neck. She fell face first into the tub.

Kara flinched back when the tub burst into flames, bringing a hand up to shield her face. She hadn't been expecting such a violent reaction. The others had a similar reflex. She had a moment where she just stood there stunned. The room was filling with smoke, "Get them out of here," O'Neill ordered. And so they began dragging the unconscious men out. Kara was the last one out, and as she was leaving she heard what sounded like something being knocked over in the room.

The smoke was still thick, but she went back in. The fire had gone out already, and she approached the tub. There hadn't been anyone else in here. What could have made the noise? The surface of the tub had stilled. There were many dead symbiotes, but where was Hathor?

Then it dawned on her. The noise. And this room had a second entrance. She couldn't wait for the others, gripping her weapon tight, she set off. But where was she going? Where would the Goa'uld go now that it had lost everything, she asked herself. It had been trapped here for thousands of years. The gate.

She ran all out after Hathor, taking the stairs two at a time. Bursting into the gate room she saw that it was already active, and Hathor was almost to the gate. Hammond and Daniel were in the control room, looking down at them, she could deal with them next. "Stop," she shouted at Hathor. The woman smiled at her and her eyes flashed. Something about it was off, she couldn't articulate what it was, it just felt wrong.

She wasn't sure what someone from SG-1 would have done. This was an enemy combatant who possessed valuable information about this facility, and whatever information she had gathered on the surface. As an Operative of the Oberion Empire, she knew what was expected of her. She brought the weapon up and fired. Her first four shots hit home, the fifth went wide. She hadn't been expecting quite that much recoil.

Hathor fell backwards, through the gate. Not Ideal, but the threat was ended. She turned, expecting to have to deal with Daniel and Hammond, but they were looking around confused. Now that Hathor was gone had her control ended?

It took about a day for normal operations to begin again. They found that those who had been afflicted had no memory of their time under her spell. The group sent for Teal'c had gotten him out, but the four were quickly recaptured, not that it mattered now. The rest of the base personnel had been released as well. Hammond had called a meeting with SG-1 and Kara. She assumed to answer for what she had kept from them.

She was the first to arrive. She took the seat Janet had had in the previous meeting and waited. It felt like forever waiting for the others. Carter arrived next and sat beside Kara. Then Teal'c, O'Neill, Hammond, and finally Daniel. "Now that we are all here, we can begin," Hammond opened. "I would first like to commend Captain Carter and Kara for their actions in saving this facility. And now I understand that there was something you wanted to tell us," he said, addressing Kara.

"After the incident when I woke up, I didn't want to give you any reason not to trust me, so I omitted a few details," she started, aware that all eyes were on her. "I have an ability that my people call the Shift. Less than one in a hundred are born with it. Most people who possess it can use it to blend into a crowd. They can make you initially overlook them, but a double take and it's gone. I have one of the strongest currently serving the Empire. I can go undetected almost anywhere. Unless I do something to get their attention, people only remember a blur the color of my clothing hours later. It is not a socially accepted trait. When you are reported to possess the ability you are moved to an isolated community, I was fourteen when I was moved. You are permitted to attend the Academy, but you are limited in your curriculum, and required to serve in the Defense Force upon graduation. I possess the rank of Operative. It is equivalent to your captain, but reserved for those who can Shift. We do whatever the Empire requires of us. During the rebellions I specialized in long range and infiltration. " she finished, skipping the details that information implied, and awaited the decision that would fall from above.

"I can understand your concern," Hammond told her, "But given recent events, I don't think we have any reason to doubt your intentions." That meant a lot to her. More than she thought it would. She was glad that they had accepted her. On Cuivien when people had learned of her ability they had shunned her. She was relieved it was different here.

The meeting continued for another half hour. Some of it was general housekeeping, but she had recounted what happened in the gate room between her and Hathor. They were proceeding as if Hathor had been killed. A Malp had been sent through to Chulak and verified her body before it had been destroyed, Kara had broached the topic of other sarcophagi but they had no proof to the existence of another.

O'Neill stopped her on the way out once they were dismissed, "I just wanted to say, you keep bringing up that incident in the hallway. No one here holds it against you, and besides, you never even turned the safety off," he said with a smile and stepped past her.

"Wait, what?" she asked, following him out.


	4. Chapter 4

Season 1:

The Shape of Things to Come

"I think I'm a fairy," she said, looking up from her book. "Uh, what?" Daniel replied. "Colorful, immortal beings," she explained, motioning to her hair, "Able to survive even mortal wounds no worse for it, who can disappear at will. Plus the pointy ears." He put down the artifact that he had been examining, "You're right, you certainly bear at least a passing resemblance. I wonder if there's any connection?" he asked, more to himself than to her. "Your ancestors may have visited Earth at some point in the past. I guess there's really no way of knowing; without getting to Cuivien, at least."

She had come across the description in her latest book, her fourth from him since arriving. She knew she wasn't retaining the finer details, but this way she at least she had enough surface level information to get by, and it would be a nice foundation if she decided to read more in depth about it. She was pretty sure she would, eventually.

She hadn't spoken about it to anyone yet, but she had decided to stay, if they would have her. She had thought about her future and it really came down to two choices. To stay or to leave. Leaving was a terrible idea. She knew the addresses of seven planets, including her own, and had no expectation that these humans would share the ones that they had. Plus it would be harder to fight the Goa'uld alone.

Beyond that, she hadn't decided what she wanted to do while she was here. If she asked they might let her live on the surface, but the idea of civilian life bored her. She didn't know what they would do if she asked to join their Stargate program. Teal'c served with SG-1, so there would hopefully be a place here for her here if she wanted one.

She really liked that thought. The incident four days ago had been a rush. She had missed the feeling, when against all odds she was able to complete her mission. She took pride in what she did. She would hate to have to stop.

"I'm hungry, lunch?" she asked him. "No," he said, distracted by his project again, "I have a meeting with the archeology team in…" he trailed off, checking his watch, "Five minutes ago." That turned into him quickly grabbing what he needed, and speeding out the door. She left with him.

She hadn't found there to ever be much of a rush in the commissary, people slowly filtered in at all hours of the day. She was most of the way done with her meal when O'Neill sat down across from her. "Hey, been looking for you," he said. She was immediately concerned, "Is something wrong?" she asked him. "The opposite, actually. I figured you deserve a proper thank you for what you did for us, I spoke to General Hammond and got permission to take you off base, if you want," he told her.

She didn't have to think very hard about the offer, "It would be nice to see the sky again," she answered. "Good, I've already got us tickets. Next Sunday, Packers at Broncos," he said standing up. "Wait, that's a sport, right?" she asked. "Football; study up," he said, walking away.

The last four days had been remarkably different from the first two weeks. Before, she had felt like a visitor, an outsider. She wasn't sure exactly what it was that had changed, whether it was her or them. She had fought for this place. Bled for it, however briefly. She was becoming attached. But she also felt more welcome now, the people friendlier. It was probably a combination of both.

The best part was she was getting access to her own computer. It had been installed the day before. Her online access was limited, but that was fine. She was still getting used to it, but seeing other people use one had helped tremendously. She spent the rest of her day studying up on football.

SG-1 had a mission the next day. They had found an opportunity to view a black hole. Kara wasn't sure of the significance of it, but Carter was excited. With the team gone, she found herself wondering the halls, taking a break from everything, when a doctor ran past her. That wasn't too unusual, sometimes there were injuries offworld. What was more unusual was when two more medical staff ran past her as well. Looking back, she saw Janet running her way, with more behind her.

Kara waited for her to pull level with her, then set off again, matching her speed. "What's going on?" Kara asked her. "SG-1 was exposed to a biological contaminant. The local population and our science team are already dead," she replied without slowing. "Let me come with you, I can help."

Kara didn't even consider the offer before the words were tumbling out of her mouth. "That's up to the General," she replied,"Come on." They both picked up their pace. Kara hadn't even realized it had happened, but she found herself back in her field mentality. She focused out the distractions around her and narrowed in on the task at hand.

She was three steps ahead of Janet as she entered the control room. She didn't have much experience with this room, but everyone looked to be in the same place they had been weeks before, the last time she had been in this room. "I heard what happened, and I want to help," she told General Hammond unprompted. "If it really is a biological contaminant, then I can't be infected. And if someone already is, there may not be time to find a cure," she continued, without giving him time to respond.

He was finally able get a word in by raising his hand for her to stop. "Permission granted," he told her. "Airman, help her get equipped," he ordered off to his side. She and the Airman quickly left, heading toward the armory. She had seen the man around, but couldn't remember his name. She really needed to learn how to tell what someone's rank was. It would make this so much easier.

They never actually entered the armory, the equipment room was just nearby. She was supplied with a tactical vest, some basic equipment and a radio. There was also the device he handed her that mounted to her arm, "This sends a signal through the gate to open the iris," he had explained. As soon as she had what she needed, she was back out the door before she even had it fully zipped.

The gate room was buzzing with activity, but it was easy to tell who was preparing to embark and who was working on erecting a device in front of the gate. She didn't know what it was, but they already had a metal frame up around the walkway in front of the gate. Those traveling with her were wearing yellow, helmeted suits, or were in the process of putting one on.

She hadn't seen anything like them before, but the humans would need something to protect them, she reasoned. It was another moment before Janet entered. She already had the suit on, helmet in hand. "Alright, dial it," she said up to the control room. Those near the gate moved back as it began to spin.

Harriman narrated the dialing sequence like before, but this time the gate connected. She didn't realize until that moment how much she missed the sound it made when activating. She must have been mesmerized by the process. When she looked back everyone was fully suited. "Can you carry this?" Janet asked, indicating to a case by her feet. Kara nodded, it had some weight to it, but she could manage.

The walk to the gate was short, and she stepped out into a bright, sunny day. She almost took a deep breath, relishing the fresh air, but thought better of it. It felt insensitive, given present company. The area around the gate appeared to be farmland. A small clump of trees was not far off and she thought she could see a town in the distance. Carter and Teal'c were waiting for them by the dialing device, "This way to the observatory," Carter said, starting in the direction. They followed.

"I had not expected to see you here, Operative Trevel," Teal'c said as they were walking. "I heard what happened and volunteered to help," she explained. He seemed satisfied with her answer and turned his attention back to the path. It took Kara a moment to realize, that was the first time she had really spoken to him. She had spoken to him as part of a group a few times now, but never directly. She would have to change that going forward.

It was a bit of a walk to get to the building. When they got there, Janet began issuing orders to the others who came through with them. The woman was in her element. Kara wasn't sure what she should be doing, but Janet eventually got to that, "I need you to wait out here until we have the interior sterilized," she said to SG-1, "Kara, wait with them, and let me know if they begin to develop any symptoms."

It took about an hour and a half for the process to finish. Someone had come to her not long after they parted for the case she had carried, but she had stood there quietly for the most part. SG-1 had been silent and she hadn't felt it necessary to disturb them.

They had to go through a decontamination chamber before they could enter the building proper. It was interesting, the things that these humans had developed that she had never even considered the need for before. Janet had needed to examine SG-1 for infection next. Again there wasn't much for her to do to help here, so she waited; this time she at least had a chair to sit on.

They were all clean, thankfully. Then came the hard part. They needed to do a sweep and tag the bodies. They had all congregated back in the main room where O'Neill was giving the orders. He was dividing them up into teams, starting with some of the medical staff that she was unfamiliar with. She was preparing an argument to help one of the teams when he turned to address her, "Kara, you're with Teal'c and myself. Carter with Daniel."

She was glad to be included, but the work was hard. They were searching for bodies. Kara had seen death before. Been on missions that went wrong. But she was hardly ever there for the cleanup, her talents were better spent elsewhere. Especially in the final years of the rebellions.

There was some logic to where the different teams had gone, but Kara wasn't privy to it. They were starting in a nearby field and working their way toward a small settlement she could see in the distance. The first few bodies were hard, they had not died cleanly, but it got easier as they went. That was somehow worse.

An hour into their search Carter radioed in. They had found a survivor, a young girl. Thankfully she was unaffected and they were bringing her back through the gate. They kept it up for another few hours, but O'Neill called it off when it began to get dark.

They spent the night on the planet. There were sleeping quarters in the building, but not enough for everyone, so she volunteered to sleep on the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable sleep she had ever had, but she would be fine. Any discomfort she would have felt the next day was taken care of before she even noticed it.

The next day they continued the search for another few hours. They had tagged about 900 bodies before O'Neill called it complete. They were the last team to arrive back at the observatory. "I feel like we owe it to these people to stay, complete the mission," he said. "The contagion is not airborne, but be careful," Janet told him, she didn't look pleased with the idea. "I will stay as well O'Neill," Teal'c offered. "I'd like to stay too," Kara added. "Sounds like a party," he told them with a smile.

O'Neill mainly focused on the telescope, Teal'c observing from across the room. The perfect opportunity, she thought to herself. He turned toward her as she approached. "I just wanted to tell you, I realized I was unintentionally avoiding you. I plan to change that going forward," she told him, and then awkwardly added, "Unless you mind?" He smiled at her, "It is understandable, Operative Trevel after what you have been through. And I do not mind." She was glad to hear that from him.

It would be about another half hour before they got the view of the black hole they were expecting. They had sat in companionable silence after she had spoken to Teal'c. Finally, she wandered closer to O'Neill, to better observe the screen displaying the feed from the telescope.

She saw the motion on the screen out of the corner of her eye. "What was that?" Teal'c asked, he must have seen it too. It took O'Neill a moment to reposition the telescope, and the object came back into view. "A Ha'tak vessel," Teal'c supplied. She had never seen one from the outside before, didn't even know what it was called. What was that noise? It definitely hadn't been there before. "Do you hear that?"

O'Neill and Teal'c listened, then shared a look. "Death Gliders," Teal'c told her ominously. "Move!" O'Neill shouted, throwing on his helmet. They wasted no time making their exit. They were about twenty feet out the door when she heard the first shots fired, then explosions behind her. By the sound of it they had hit the building they were just occupying, but there was no reason to turn and check.

The road back to the gate was very open. She put everything she had into her sprint. The Gliders had circled around for another pass. Their shots went wide, they must not be very accurate. They did another pass, this time one of the shots hit in front of them, making her jump the divot it created, but she never broke stride.

The timing worked that the next pass took the Gliders over them just as they reached the small clump of trees by the gate, giving them some cover. Kara entered them first with a slide down the small embankment, her heart pounding. The others just behind her. It gave Teal'c the chance to tell them about Nirrti, the diplomat, and the bomb. They needed to hurry! Earth couldn't lose their gate.

O'Neill broke first, Teal'c and Kara right behind him. Adrenaline was singing through her, she loved this feeling. A lucky shot almost hit O'Neill on the way, knocking him over. Teal'c sped past to the DHD, while Kara helped him up. The gate was open before she got to it. Teal'c must have already sent the signal, she thought, as he stepped through. O'Neill was a step ahead of her through the gate. Just as she was stepping through, a shot hit right behind her, propelling her forward.

She was going too fast to regain her footing when she emerged, Roll! She heard O'Neill shout something, but the blood was pumping in her ears so she wasn't sure what it had been. "Whooo!" she shouted, regaining her footing, a big smile on her face.

They had gotten back just in time. They had saved the gate, but the little girl, Cassandra, still had a bomb inside her. They were taking her to a weapons testing facility to let her detonate safely. Kara stayed behind. If she had lobbied for it, they may have let her go, but she wanted no part in it. She knew they hadn't made the decision lightly, but that didn't make it easier.

She was glad to hear they all came back safe, even Cassandra. Proximity to the gate was what was keeping the bomb active. Janet had agreed to keep her while they searched for a more permanent home. She assumed that would be unlikely.

She quickly got back into the swing of things on the base, and in no time at all it was time for her journey to the surface. She still didn't really have anything in the way of possessions and so had planned to wear what she had. She had about fifteen minutes until she was supposed to meet the team by the elevators to the surface when there was a knock on the door.

She hadn't bee expecting anyone. She opened it to find O'Neill, holding a bag. "I had Carter pick up some stuff for you," he explained, handing it to her. "Elevators in ten," he said as he began to walk away, before she had a chance to thank him. She closed the door and moved to the bed to examine what he had brought her.

She found it was full of clothing. Shirts, in multiple colors, and pants. Jeans, she remembered they were called. She quickly changed. The pants fit perfectly, and she went with the black shirt. It's collar was shaped like a V, and she thought it might have been a bit tight, but that could have just been the style.

She found O'Neill and Teal'c waiting for her by the elevators. O'Neill was dressed similar to her, but with a jacket, and Teal'c was wearing tan pants, a buttoned shirt, and a hat to hide the emblem on his forehead . When O'Neill saw she had arrived, he explained, "Carter is spending time with Cassandra and Daniel can't pry himself away from his toys, so it's just us today."

The elevator quickly arrived and they piled in. "Oh, before I forget," he said, fishing around his pocket for something. He pulled out a card and handed it to her. It was the same as the other cards she'd seen around the base. It even had her picture. "We couldn't use Eleskara of Trevel, but Kara Trevel sounds human enough. I hope you don't mind. And be careful with it, it'll open most of the doors here," he explained to her. "Not at all," she reassured him, and then it occurred to her, "I don't need to wear a hat, do I?" He looked like he hadn't been expecting her to ask that, "No. If anyone asks, just tell them you dye your hair, but it shouldn't be an issue. You should keep it down to hide your ears, though," he told her. She nodded at that.

The elevator ride was quick, a few security checkpoints later and they were outside. It was cool and cloudy, but she didn't mind. This time she took that breath. O'Neill checked out a car from the base and they were on their way. It was about an hour to the stadium, he had told them. She was fine with that. She spent almost the entire ride glued to the window. First she had been amazed by the landscape, but then it became the human presence as they approached the city.

The stadium had been packed. At first she had been nervous she might slip up or stand out, but it quickly became apparent that everyone else was more concerned with themselves, hardly noticing her. The only exception had been while O'Neill was buying food. She and Teal'c had been standing to the side, waiting, when she felt a tug on her hand.

There was a little girl standing in front of her, "I like your hair," she had said. Kara crouched down, level with the girl, "Thank you," she told her. Her mother must have been close by, and quickly came over, "Honey, what did I tell you about wandering off?" The little girl followed her mother away, and Kara offered the woman a small wave.

The game was entertaining, even if Kara didn't have a vested interest in the outcome. All too soon it was over, and they were leaving. She thoroughly enjoyed the trip. And it was nice to be outside again, this time without the bodies. In the end she found it to be the push she needed. She asked Hammond for a position the next day.

_A/N_

_I have found that the chapters have been running longer than I had expected. It'll take me longer than first assumed to get them out, looking more like an update every 7 to 10 days._


	5. Chapter 5

Season 1:

The Shape of Things to Come

Hammond had been willing to work with her, but there really wasn't an immediate position for her. He had agreed to let her join SG-6, when the team was formed, bit their budget was currently under scrutiny, so it would have to wait. He hadn't been sure how long.

It had been another month and there hadn't been any changes in that regard, but she had still been active. SG-1 had found a group of humans on a volcanic planet the past week. She had been in the gate room to help stabilize the worst of them. After, she had assisted in their care. They had initially been receptive of her, not being from Earth, but a few probing questions and they were treating her like everyone else.

She had initially been worried about Daniel's plan to save the Tollan from Maybourne, not wanting to jeopardize her position on Earth. That changed after their unofficial gathering, knowing Hammond would have her back. She had never seen anything like the Nox woman before, pale skin and wild hair. She even turned the Tollan invisible. She wondered if there was any connection to her ability. Probably not.

She was walking to her room when the alarm was raised, "Unscheduled offworld activation," Harriman's voice echoed out of the speaker. She knew SG-1 often responded to those alerts, rushing to the control room. She also knew they had only recently left for their latest mission. Making the decision, she ran that direction.

She entered the room to find everyone in their usual positions, Hammond included. "What's going on?" she asked, approaching him. She didn't have time to wonder if he might ask her to leave before he answered her, "SG-1 is under fire." Any further explanation was lost when Daniel came flying out of the gate, much faster than he should have.

She was moving. A single flight of stairs, a turn, and she was in the gate room. Teal'c was now also in the room, laying on the ramp. The gate deactivated violently, sparks flying. She could see now that Daniel came to a rest at its base. Daniel was closer, he appeared to be unconscious, a large gash on his forehead. She heard a medical team had enter behind her, they moved past to tend to Teal'c. She had to focus past their distraction to heal Daniel. It didn't take much, good.

He woke slowly a moment later, looking around confused. She helped him sit up. "Anything still hurt?" she asked him. "No, I feel great," he answered her, waving off a doctor trying to examine him. She rose up and extended an arm down, helping him stand. Teal'c was already standing as well. He really was resilient. Where were the others? Hammond entered next. The medical team left, nodding to his as they left. "Briefing room, now," he ordered.

She followed the three of them up. Teal'c and Daniel recounted what had happened. Fired upon from unseen enemies. They insisted the others were right behind them. "The wormhole couldn't have just disappeared, could it?" she asked. The others didn't seem to have an answer for her.

It took an hour for the gate to be repaired. She had wanted to help, but knew she would only have gotten in the way. These people knew what they were doing, she just needed to let them work. The others had dispersed, to clean up, she assumed, but she hadn't left the briefing room. Staring down at the gate.

An eternity later the gate was fixed and she was back in the control room, Teal'c and Daniel beside her. They were sending a Malp through to search for any sign of the others. The gate spun, the wormhole formed, and the Malp advanced. They only had a few seconds before the Malp was fired upon. She didn't see any evidence of them near the gate.

She took an empty seat beside her, dejected. It would have been so much simpler if they had just been captured. She would have been the first one through the gate after them, well maybe second. Teal'c would have raced her for it. But just gone?

Daniel's voice pulled her back to reality, "Kara was right, the wormhole couldn't have just disappeared." She didn't know what had changed in the last hour that gave him this answer, wishful thinking maybe. He continued anyway, getting more energetic, "We were under fire, some of the staff blasts struck the gate. It's what caused the overload on our end. So if they're not here and they're not there, they must have gone somewhere else. Another gate along the same trajectory," he finished, hands waving.

"It would make sense to include a safety mechanism like that in the gate, an outlet for any excess energy that wouldn't compromise the wormhole," Kara agreed, jumping to her feet. Daniel's optimism must have been contagious. He must have seen hesitation on Hammond's face, "We wouldn't have to search far from the gate, if they came out as violently as we did they could be injured. In need of help."

That seemed to win Hammond over to their side, "Permission granted, and I'll have a marine team on stand-by." With that, he left them to work. She hadn't actually known how many addresses they had until now. She understood that mathematically there had to have been more than the few that had found with her gate, but she was still surprised by how many the SGC had.

It took almost two hours to narrow the list down to just the ones they were looking for, 23 total. She realized shortly after they started that she hadn't actually given them the addresses she knew. Of her seven, they already had five, including Cuivien. One of her new two fell in the cone they were searching.

She had thought that they would quickly find them, but as time went on she found that her initial optimistic energy beginning to fade, and judging by the look on Daniel's face, he felt the same. She was by no means giving up on them, just accepting that this was less of a sprint than she had believed. Daniel seemed just as driven, and who could blame him. Teal'c was ever present, but let them take the lead.

They found they could search one world an hour. The marines and Teal'c would follow the Malp through, search the immediate vicinity, and return. She and Daniel would remain behind. At first they were just waiting, hoping Carter or O'Neill would dial in while the others were away. As more and more planets came back negative this turned into reviewing the list of addresses. If they tweaked the parameters, they were able to include another six worlds.

That was how they found themselves in the briefing room at three AM, no closer to finding them. Teal'c and SG-3 were offworld, planet number 14. She could tell that Daniel would need a break soon, she probably would too. She wasn't even sure she felt it at first, a slight shudder. She would have brushed it off as lack of sleep, but the water in Daniel's cup was vibrating too. "Do you feel that?" he asked.

He didn't wait for an answer. With a flash of understanding he was up and moving. She followed him down to the control room. "Get General Hammond down here now," he said to the lone man in the room. Kara wasn't sure what he was on too, but she didn't want to get in his way. While they waited for Hammond, Daniel took a seat at one of the monitors and pulled up sensor data from earlier in the day.

Teal'c and SG-3 returned while they were waiting. She wasn't sure what the others did when they returned, but Teal'c always joined them. And so Hammond found the three of them waiting, "What have you found Doctor Jackson?" He was a moment in responding, still pulling something up on the computer, "When we first started using the gate it shook, pretty bad. The new dampeners help, but you can still feel it. Kara and I were just upstairs and I felt a slight tremor. I felt something similar a few hours ago, but thought I was imagining it. Teal'c, would the Goa'uld ever bring a second gate to a world?"

"If the first became inaccessible to them," he answered. He thought there was a second gate on Earth? "I just checked with NOAA, both times there was a vibration recorded here there was a corresponding quake recorded in Antarctica, here," he said, pointing to the screen.

"That's only a hundred miles outside Mcmurdo," Hammond added. "Sir," Kara began, she wasn't quite sure exactly what she had planned to ask him, but he didn't give her the chance to finish, "Permission granted." With that they all rushed the elevators. The ride to the surface felt like forever. When they were finally outside, Hammond stepped aside, securing their transport, she assumed. He returned quickly, with a vehicle similar to what O'Neill had driven to Denver in. Hammond and a driver were in the front, which left her Daniel, and Teal'c to squeeze into the back.

She didn't have long to get used to the cramped conditions before they were already stopping. Getting out she saw they were on a runway, with the largest plane she had ever seen. She had been required to learn to fly a small civilian craft as part of an assignment once, but that was nothing compared to this. They were ushered inside quickly to a set of simple seats along the wall. It was loud inside, she could tell Hammond was speaking to someone on the runway still but couldn't hear what he was saying.

She was distracted from that by someone coming up the ramp into the plane. He helped the three of them get settled in their seats. It was still too loud to speak comfortably, so the man was using gestures. Kara had little trouble following them, but was more intrigued by the man's uniform. It was different than any she'd seen before, but was still recognizable. It was the patch on the front of his jacket that held her attention, it was the airplane she was currently in with 'C-130' below it, the type of plane?

The man quickly finished and moved up the plane. Hammond took the empty seat beside her, and the back ramp was closing. The noise increased , but Hammond handed her a headset that was mounted to the wall behind her. They had to make a few stops on the way, fuel, she assumed. When they made their last stop, they were each supplied with a bag of cold weather gear. She followed the other's lead and put them on.

She had read about this continent before, knew it was cold and desolate, but she wasn't prepared for how cold and desolate it really was. Nothing but snow and ice as far as she could see. The cold didn't bother her as much as the others, but she was still grateful for the warmer clothing. They were quickly shown from the plane to a helicopter. They were almost there.

She figured they were about halfway to the coordinates when word came over the radio, they had been found! They were in rough shape, but it was still a relief to hear. The rescue team wasn't equipped to extract them, that equipment was with them apparently. She saw the second helicopter before they sat down. It looked the same as theirs, as far as she could tell, and was sitting near the opening to a crevasse. They sat down near it and were out as soon as they were told it was safe.

The search and rescue team had anchored repel points at the opening, but Kara didn't want to take the time to learn how the human equipment worked. She had always been accused of being too rash, and lived up to it here. She knew enough to not hit the slope at a run, but she could have been more careful. No time! She told herself.

She slid to the bottom safely. The chamber she entered was larger than she was expecting. A Stargate was embedded in the far wall, Carter was leaning against a chunk of ice that looked to hold a DHD, and O'Neill was on a stretcher being moved toward her. If Carter was standing that must have meant that O'Neill was in worse shape.

"How is he?" she asked one of the men carrying O'Neill. "Broken leg, internal bleeding, we need to get him out of here," the one by his head told her impatiently. "Wait," she told them. O'Neill was pretty bundled up, the only exposed skin his face, it would have to do. She laid a hand on his cheek and focused. It took a considerable amount of effort to mend his leg and stop the bleeding. He would still need medical attention, but he was in a much better place now.

She heard his breathing even out before she opened her eyes to the startled face of the to men attending O'Neill. "Probably shouldn't mention that bit to anyone," she told them in way of an explanation and moved deeper into the cavern. She did her best to hide how out of breath she felt.

She approached Carter next. As she got closer, she saw that the woman's eyes were closed, and she was holding something, a hand warmer? She must have heard her approaching. "Kara!" she said, surprise running across her face. She hadn't been expecting the quick embrace she received, "What are you doing here? How did you find us?" Carter looked tired, bone tired. "Your gate activity was registering as a groundquake, we just followed it here. Are you OK?" Carter just nodded.

She hadn't noticed the others approaching until she heard Hammond speak, "We'll take it from here Captain, get yourself checked out." She left with a quiet "Yes,sir," slowly moving toward the opening. Teal'c left with her, but Daniel wanted to stay, to document the find, he told them. She stayed too, she had been planning to follow Daniel, helping where she could, but she didn't get the chance to offer.

It was Hammond who pointed it out to her, with Carter and Teal'c on their way back to the base, she was the most qualified gate expert present. Her instinct had been to refute it, but he was right. She wound up working in tandem with Daniel. Hammond disappeared early, yaking care of the big picture, she assumed. That left her in charge of the recovery and all personnel present. She could tell that they were initially confused about her identity and role in the excavation, especially after she put her hair up, but none of them ever voiced anything to her about it.

They didn't find anything they weren't expecting to find. The gate, the DHD, which she deactivated, and two Jaffa encased in ice. The one anomaly was that there was a third staff weapon found in the ice. There was no way to know exactly how long ago the others were encased, but surely it would have been long enough that a surviving Jaffa would have needed a new symbiote by now.

It took the better part of a day to fully secure the site, and to make sure that they hadn't missed anything. They had everything moved to the surface, except the Stargate itself, when Hammond returned. It was all to be moved to an Area 51, a research site, she understood. With nothing but manual labor left, Hammond was sending them back to base. Without the stresses of the trip down, the return trip flew by.

It felt like forever since the last time she had slept. She had had a short nap in the cavern, but was too focused on the task at hand for much more. It took her about a day to get back into the swing of things on base, a pattern she was becoming familiar with. What she hadn't been expecting was O'Neill's offer a week later to attend the team's movie night.

She had graciously accepted, and manged to secure a ride to his house the next night from Daniel. She knew what films were, but hadn't seen any during her time on Earth yet. Full of starships, daring escapes, and a space princess. She was initially concerned about how the film was portraying the Empire as this large, corrupt organization, right up until they blew up a planet. That was where any similarities she had seen went right out the window.

It was an enjoyable time, over too soon. She rode back to the base with Daniel, who voiced his preference for the sequel. She would have to watch it on her own time, she decided. It wasn't long before SG-1 was galavanting off on another adventure.

What was unusual was that shortly after they left, a Senator visited the base. She wasn't exactly sure what his role was, but she knew he was important. Asking around revealed that he was the one responsible for the budget of this facility. She knew it was a sore point with Hammond, and so chose to avoid the man lest he find problem with her.

There was to be a hearing to determine if the program was to continue. It didn't help that Daniel went missing on the mission, delaying the hearing. He mysteriously reappeared a day later, and she didn't have time to speak with him before it began. The hearing took the better part of the day, and, judging by the morale of the team during breaks, wasn't going very well.

It came as a complete shock when she heard the news. They were shutting down. Was this Senator so shortsighted that he couldn't see it was already too late to bury the gate again? When Carter led her down to the control room, she assumed it would be for a final farewell before everything was shut down the next day. It came as a pleasant surprise that the rest of SG-1 was there as well, but judging by the determined looks on their faces, she was wrong.

They began by catching her up on Daniel's trip. An alternate reality where everything was the same, but different. Where Teal'c never defected, where they never found her. Kara wasn't sure how she felt about that. That wasn't important she scolded herself, a fleet was coming for Earth and they had the coordinates. They had to do something.

The others obviously felt the same, but had much more to loose if they acted. It started innocently enough. A hypothetical here, a leading question there, and before she knew it, they were in the armory. She found herself with almost the same gear she had the last time she went offworld, with one glaring exception. This time she was armed, a P90 they called it. It was simple enough, she thought to herself, and with the 50 round magazine, extremely deadly.

Through the whole process of collecting their gear, O'Neill was drilling information into her head. Earth's address, the Alpha Site address, the correct GDO code to open the iris. Whatever she would need to get back if they were separated. It wasn't until she started up the ramp she realized, they never actually asked for her help. They had all reached this decision together. Of course she would help. At no point had she even considered not. It was a welcome realization.

They almost made it through the gate without getting caught. She was halfway up the ramp when she heard Hammond over the speaker from the control room, "SG-1, Stand down," he ordered. They chose not to hear him.

She emerged into a dark room, made darker when the gate deactivated.

They were silent as they quickly surveyed the room they found themselves in, a large square that housed the gate, some containers, and little else. Closer inspection revealed that the containers were marked with the same symbol Teal'c bore. Apophis.

O'Neill managed to open one and she was able to get a better look inside when Daniel dialed the gate to send their Malp back through. It full of weapons, staff weapons and Zat'Nik'Tels. "Enough in here for an invasion," she voiced. Rather than answer, O'Neill pulled out one of the Zat'Nik'Tels, "This one of those Zat guns you were talking about?" he asked her. She nodded.

Rather than replace it, he holstered it. She grabbed one and did the same, the others as well. He had just closed the lid when they heard approaching Jaffa. Any further planning would have to wait. The Stargate was on a pedestal large enough for all of them to hide behind. From this position, she couldn't see exactly who had entered, but there were at least four distinct footsteps. More importantly, when the Jaffa entered the room, the lights came on.

They only stayed a moment before they left the same way they came. Once the Jaffa were gone, they reemerged. It looked like they had deposited more crates. All the easier to arm an incoming army. She knew where the door was now, but she still couldn't see it. "T, can you open it?" O'Neill asked. It took him a moment to examine the wall before he responded, "Indeed." At the same time he pressed a symbol on the wall.

The door opened into a well lit hallway. There were more doors along its length and a window on the left. O'Neill went first, though he stopped when he pulled level with it. She did the same. She didn't know what kind of environment to expect, but it had been an environment, not the star field in front of her. They were on a ship.

"Alright everyone, back to the gate," O'Neill ordered. They made it two steps before she heard the noise, and only another half step before the whole ship shuddered. She was thrown roughly against the wall. The others hadn't managed much better. Except for Teal'c, he hadn't moved.

"Little warning next time buddy," O'Neill said, standing. "My apologies Colonel O'Neill, I have never felt such acceleration from a ship before," Teal'c explained. Carter asked the obvious question, "How fast can this thing go?" Teal'c was silent for a moment, "Apophis' flagship can travel ten times the speed of light, slower than most Ha'tak. But this felt different."

Kara wasn't actually sure how far they were from Earth now, but Carter must have had the same thought, "At that speed it would take almost a year to reach Earth." For some reason, she didn't think they had that long. "We can't use the gate," Kara voiced. "She's right. Not until they stop, at least," Carter said, backing her up.

"If we can't leave, we may as well be ready to take them out, if it comes to that," O'Neill told them, "Where can we do the most damage?" Teal'c thought a moment, "Hanger bay."

They reached their destination quickly and unaccosted, and set about their task. They had explained how C-4 worked before they left. Kara had used something similar before, and found it easy to adapt, stick it and move. She didn't use all of it, thinking it a good idea to keep some in reserve.

They met back in the center. "Carter set a timer, 24 hours," O'Neill ordered, "Now, lets get to the bridge." They nodded their assent and followed Teal'c out of the room. She was surprised that they hadn't encountered anyone in the halls thus far. She knew their luck had to run out eventually.

She was the third one through the door to the bridge, behind Teal'c and O'Neill. She saw there were three men present on the bridge. The outer two, clearly Jaffa, spun toward them, weapons ready. A short burst took the one on the left, Teal'c took the one on the right. That left O'Neill to cover the one in the center. When he finally turned, she had conformation, it was a Goa'uld.

The others filed in behind her, but no one fired on the man. "Skarra?" O'Neill asked. They must have known the man before he was taken. Rather than answer, he lifted his hand. She had just enough time to recognize it as similar to the device Hathor wore, when it activated.

The shockwave hurled her back into the wall. She looked up to see the Goa'uld advancing menacingly toward them, device raised. Teal'c's staff blast took him in the chest, knocking him over. O'Neill quickly rushed to his side. She moved to the door, partially to give them some privacy, but others would have heard the commotion and come running.

She didn't have to wait long, a short burst dissuaded the first to respond, but others were coming. "Company!" she announced back to the rest. She was only able to get another short bust off before she had to duck back into cover. "Operative Trevel," Teal'c said to get her attention. He was aiming at her head. No, the door controls behind her. She stepped out of the way and he fired. The doors closed, and were hopefully sealed.

She stopped a moment to take stock. They had the console in the center of the room, some protrusions along the walls, and only one door in or out. A shudder. Deceleration, she almost lost her balance. She heard Carter behind her, "Colonel, look at this."

She turned, and saw what Carter was talking about. She had known the far wall was made of the same material as the window from before, but it had had the same colorful view when they came in. Now though, a planet. Big and blue. How could they have already arrived? More worrying was the other ship that had come into view. "Apophis," Teal'c informed them. A thump against the door snapped her back to reality. Then another.

"Cover," O'Neill ordered. She took one of the protrusions, Teal'c another. The others moved behind the console in the center of the room. Another thump. Followed by another. They knew that the Jaffa would get in eventually, and then what? Fight there way out, figure out how to get to the other ship, and all before they attacked Earth? Impossible. Another thump. Now wasn't the time for those thoughts. She would get out of this. Another thump. She gripped her P90 tighter.

That last shot had punched a small hole in the door. Another hit and it was about the size of her head. She let off a short burst to deter anyone getting too close to the new hole. There was silence for a moment. The calm before the storm. It was a good throw that landed the metal sphere a few feet in front of her. She didn't know exactly what it did, but she knew a grenade when she saw one. She quickly stepped out of cover to it, a swift kick sent it flying. It only got a few feet from her before-

She awoke in a cell. The others were all present, but she was the first to come to. It was another few minutes before Teal'c regained consciousness. She moved to help him, "what was that thing?" she asked him once he was sitting. "A Goa'uld stun device, it leaves those afflicted blind for some moments, but it will pass." That explained why he hadn't focused on her while speaking. She moved to the others as the woke, but in the end they were no less stuck than they had been before.

She had just given up trying to find a way to open the door to their cell when it opened from the outside. An older Jaffa entered. Judging by the looks from the others, they knew him. Bra'tac, they called him. She was glad he was on their side, especially since he had their equipment. But their presence had disrupted his plan to save Earth. "Time for an new plan," O'Neill began, "If we can secure the bridge and maneuver it closer to Apophis' ship, we might be able to take out the two of them together." He looked to Bra'tac when he finished.

"Apophis' ship is shielded, we will need to ring to his ship and destroy them, but you plan is solid," the Jaffa told them. "Carter, how long?" O'Neill asked. "Twenty minutes," she answered. With their new plan, they set out. He had initially seemed confused by her presence. If he had previously worked with SG-1, it was understandable. There would be time for introductions later. They let Bra'tac take the lead, the other Jaffa still believed him to be loyal it seemed.

They encountered only minor resistance on the way. The Goa'uld really were arrogant. What they did encounter, Bra'tac was able to handle, though his cover was definitely blown after this. The door to the bridge, Pel'tac, Bra'tac called it, was still damaged. Daniel volunteered to keep watch while the others set about the plan. Rather than leave him to it alone, she stayed as well. He took one direction, her the other.

She heard the stomp of their boots before she saw them. "Company!" she announced back to the others and then braced herself. They came from Daniel's side first and he opened fire with his Zat, while she readied her P90. A short burst took the next Jaffa, then another. She needed to reload. She had just popped the magazine out when the blast took Daniel's shoulder.

He collapsed with a scream. She finished her reload and took the Jaffa who had made the shot. She was pulling him back into cover when liquid fire spread along her back. It took everything she had to not fall on Daniel. O'Neill was stepping over her, firing. He must have gotten them, because he stopped. She propped herself up using her good arm. She had to think tactically. "Go," she told O'Neill, "We'll just slow you down."

He paused for a moment but Daniel persuaded him, "We'll hold them off." He clearly wasn't happy with the decision but nodded his agreement and moved past them. She heard a ring platform activate in the distance. They were going to save Earth. But there was now a more pressing concern, they were on a ship about to explode. They couldn't have more than ten minutes before the C-4 went off.

Standing hurt, almost too much. But there wasn't time for pain. She took Daniel's good arm and pulled him up, "What are you doing?" he asked her. She hadn't realized she was breathing heavily until she answered him, "The gate only works if it's stationary." She watched the understanding wash over him. "You'd have thought of it eventually," she said, and they set off.

Together they limped back toward the gate. His good arm over her shoulder, her holding a Zat she had no confidence in firing in her current state. Thankfully, they made it with no resistance. She propped him up against the DHD, and began to dial. She had almost dialed Earth, but she couldn't. That had been the problem before, with the ice. She needed to focus. The Alpha site.

The first time she dialed it the gate failed to connect. They must have been evacuating. Again. It activated. The shiny blue puddle. Focus! She half carried, half dragged Daniel through the gate. They emerged into a midday field. There were soldiers near the gate, weapons raised, and more people behind, scattered amongst rows of white tents. Finally, it was too much for her, and she collapsed.

She woke on a stiff mattress. She could hear shuffling near her. The attack! She sat bolt upright. She was in one of the tents she had seen before, Daniel was in a bed beside her. She rolled her shoulders experimentally, glad when there was no pain. Taking stock she saw that there was another needle in her arm, which was quickly removed, and something blowing air into her nose. It was uncomfortable and followed suit.

She had stood, and had just removed the now useless bandage from her back when she heard someone enter the tent. Turning, she saw a doctor she had never seen before. He seemed to be searching for something to say. Finally, he settled on, "That's not humanly possible." She chuckled and it grew into a full blown belly laugh, it was a welcome relief to the stress of the past day. It finally ended with her leaning against her bed. "Sorry, sorry," she apologized, still laughing.

The man still hadn't moved, maybe a question would help, "We're we able to stop the attack?" she asked him. "Attack?" he replied lamely. Maybe something simpler, "How is he?" she asked motioning to Daniel. That seemed to snap him out of it, the doctor launched into a detailed medical answer. She had been hoping for something closer to 'he'll be fine'.

She moved to Daniel. She felt bone tired, but she still did what she could for him. Once she finished, she sat on her bed. The man had disappeared at some point and without something to focus on, she fell awoke sometime late when someone entered the tent. It was a man she recognized, but had never spoken to; with a SG-3 patch on his arm. "Colonel Makepeace, ma'am," he began, "We got word about three hours ago. Two unexplained fireballs in night sky." The final bits of tension left her at those words. "We're packing up everyone on the guest list. Have you home in about an hour." She nodded her thanks and he left.

She didn't have anything to pack. Someone had removed the equipment she had on her at some point. She was still in the same clothes. She could tell by the massive hole in the back of her shirt. They must have been preparing for the worst if they had just stuck a bandage on her and moved on. Daniel was still in the bed beside her, but he looked better than before. She did what she could for him again.

He woke almost twenty minutes later, it was sore he said, but could manage it. Half an hour after that they were through the gate. She hadn't thought far enough ahead before they left to imagine her homecoming, but more than the gate room stuffed full to bursting with people cheering for her, she was glad to be back.

Janet pulled them aside almost immediately and ushered them to the infirmary. She didn't feel the need to fight the woman. Hammond followed them, and they happily provided their side of the story. The others it seemed, were currently still on their way down from orbit. Once Hammond and Janet were satisfied with her, she left. She got a full twelve hours that night.

The others received just as enthusiastic a return, and Kara assumed that things would all return to normal. She couldn't have been more wrong. O'Neill approached her at lunch two days later. "I understand you asked Hammond for a position here a while back," he told her, "I just wanted you to know, I filed the official request for you to join SG-1 an hour ago. If your interested?"

She accepted in a heartbeat.


	6. Chapter 6

Season 2:

Her First Steps

Senator Kinsey was an ass. When their success against Apophis shone a massive spotlight on his failures, he conceded. For the most part. 'SGC personnel need to be the best of the best' he had said. Whined, really. She couldn't blame Hammond, he couldn't win every battle. And this was really a minor concession all things considered. More of a personal insult, really. The ass.

That was how she found herself packing her few possessions into her bag headed for Basic Training. She had a half hour before she needed to be topside. Hammond had pulled some strings for her, but she didn't know to what effect yet. She was told that the program was normally thirteen weeks long, but that seemed excessive given her skillset, especially in light of recent events. Even if she was required to attend the full length, she trusted O'Neill would pull her out if the world was in danger.

She had time to give her goodbyes and make it to the surface with two minutes to spare. From the surface it was a quick ride on a transport to Peterson, the same base she had briefly visited before. When they had been racing against time, they were lifting off almost immediately. Now she found herself with an hour to kill before her flight.

When she finally boarded, the safety tutorial was much more comprehensive. The flight was bumpier than her other experience in this model, but she found the time still passed quickly. They had touched down before she knew it.

The ramp lowered, and her first impression was that it was hotter here and more humid. She could hear waves crashing in the distance, and the smell of salt in the air. It reminded her of home. She knew she was in South Carolina and that it was on the east coast, but she wouldn't have been able to point to it on a map. Hopefully it wasn't required.

There was a young man waiting for her at the base of the ramp who took her bag and led her to a nearby car. He was quiet, and seemed excessively nervous. She didn't know what the base officers knew about her, but it couldn't have been much. And this guy knew even less. She must have been a sight.

He drove them to where she was spending the first night. The rest of the class wouldn't be arriving until the next day, she had been told. She thanked him, and he left. The room was more bare than her room at the SGC, not that she was complaining. It had a bed and a small desk, she wouldn't need much else during her stay.

Once O'Neill offered her the position on SG-1, she dumped most of her previous readings and focused on what was important. She couldn't bring anything with her directly related to anything offworld, so instead she was learning Goa'uld. While it was still acquired from offworld, it bore enough of a resemblance to ancient Egyptian that she could get away with it.

The same man came for her in the morning. She was able to eat a quick breakfast and then he left her by the main building in the training complex. With nothing to do until the others arrived, she sat on the curb. Five minutes later, a short woman in a tan uniform exited the building. Kara rose to greet her.

"Kara Trevel?" the woman asked. Kara nodded, "Yes, ma'am." the woman seemed to be taking stock of her for a moment before she spoke again. "I am Staff Sergeant Lopez. I've been told you're a special case. I didn't get any details, just told not to make a big deal about your hair. I don't care who you are, or who you know. I'll follow my orders, but expect to be treated like everyone else, understood?"

Lopez reminded her of her first commander, if she had had pale hair. "Yes, ma'am," she replied again. "The bus with the others will be here soon," Lopez told her. Kara looked the way the woman had indicated, when she looked back to the woman she was staring at her ear. Kara wasn't surprised by it. If she was going to be spending any considerable time outside of the SGC, she knew she would get looks. "I was really into Ren Faires when I was younger," she gave in way of an explanation. It had been Daniel's idea.

The bus soon arrived and Lopez began barking orders at them. She had spoken to Makepeace about his training experience and had appreciated his insight. The first day went about how he had described it. Lopez was tough, but the rest of them looked like they needed it. Kara slipped back into it like a favorite pair of pants.

The barracks they were staying in reminded her of her first experiences with the Defense Force. It was nice though, to be one of thirty instead of a hundred. She had been assigned an M16. She knew SG teams operated with P90s, but she could work with it. The uniforms were similar to what she had been wearing at the SGC, but it was nice to have a color swap after so long in the same color.

The first few days were dedicated to paperwork. Kara found that her's was already taken care of. Good, it was easier to blend in without getting her personal information wrong. She was assuming that after the paperwork it would alter course to more physical activity. She was wrong. There was certainly some physical activity, but it was mostly sitting in a class. She understood that the information would be useful during her time on Earth, but she could have just as easily learned it at the SGC.

The hand to hand combat sessions were becoming her favorite daily activity. She was by no means an expert, but she considered herself to be proficient in the basic form taught by the Defense Force. If she had needed the skill in her previous position it meant something had gone wrong. It almost never went wrong.

They began weapons training in their fifth week. She still found the progress achingly slow. The others were struggling along, and she could admit that the course was paced well enough for them. It only served to lower her opinion of Kinsey that much further. She knew the other recruits had begun talking about her behind her back, but she didn't mind. Her current favorite theory was that she was the rebellious daughter of a general finally forced into shape.

It wasn't until halfway through the sixth week that things picked up. It was about a half hour before lights out when she heard the noise. Felt it really, it was so strong. "What was that?" the recruit who slept beside her asked. Kara knew exactly what it was, "Sonic boom." They weren't supposed to leave the barracks.

It was a clear night, she saw as she stepped outside. The source of the boom was easy to spot. A fireball was streaking across the sky. She couldn't tell exactly what it was, though. From its current angle she could tell it would land just east of the base. It could have been anything up there, she told herself. This was a military base, after all. She might have believed herself if she hadn't just helped to thwart an invasion not two months prior.

She Shifted. Couldn't afford to be stopped now. She was running. Once she was out of the area of the base reserved for training, she saw that others were scrambling too, but no audible alarm had been raised yet. The object must have hit by now, but she hadn't heard or felt anything, landed in the water?

She wasn't sure how far she had run, but she had passed out of the base proper already. It wasn't too much further until she came to a fence. She had been expecting one. She was planning to take her jacket off and use it to help get over the razor wire at the top, but that proved unnecessary. There was a hole in the fence. Sloppy. It proved a tight squeeze, but she was through.

Another hundred feet and the tree line broke, giving way to a rocky beach. There was smoke pouring up from the water, and it was deep enough to completely submerge whatever the object was. She almost missed it, but there were definitely footsteps coming out of the water and moving off to her left. She followed them off into the woods.

She hadn't gotten far when she heard the shout, "Freeze!" It was far enough away that she knew it wasn't intended for her, and was that Lopez? She quickened her pace. She couldn't get up to full speed, even with the full moon, it was dark and the trees thick.

She burst through into a small clearing. Lopez was just in front of her to the right, she was looking across the clearing at a dark figure. Kara couldn't tell who it was from this distance. Possibly in response to her presence, the stranger spun a long, slender object up, pointing it toward them. She heard the telltale firing sound as she made contact with Lopez.

She felt the heat of the blast on her back as it sailed over them, hitting a tree. She did her best not to land on Lopez and sprang back to her feet. It was too late, the figure was gone. She dropped her Shift. Lopez already knew she was there, keeping it would have just led to more questions.

She turned back to the woman. She hadn't moved, was still staring at where the stranger had been. Kara offered her hand to her, Lopez took it and Kara pulled her to her feet. She could see questions flying across the woman's face, but she never voiced them. Finally, she turned to Kara.

Whatever question she was about to ask was interrupted. Two spotlights flared on, pointed at them. Four armed men entered the clearing from the direction of the base. They must have thought she was involved in the crash and began shouting, "Hands!" Kara took a step back from Lopez and raised her arms, Lopez did the same.

She was handcuffed at the site and led out to a nearby road, roughly. There was a vehicle waiting and she was shoved in the back seat. She knew time was of the essence with at least one Jaffa on the loose, but there wasn't anything she could do for now. So she waited. The ride back to base was short, and they pulled up to a building she had never been inside before.

She was removed from the vehicle and led inside. There was what looked like a receptionists window just inside, but it was empty and they moved her past it. She was led into a room divided in half by prison bars. Once she was locked inside, the handcuffs were removed. She finally spoke as the MPs were leaving, "Contact General George Hammond out of Cheyenne Mountain. Tell him I need to speak to him."

They left without acknowledging her. She punched one of the bars. Ow! Definitely broke at least a few bones. She flexed her hand as the bones healed, took a seat on one of the two beds, and closed her eyes. They wouldn't leave her in here forever.

She opened her eyes and stood when she heard the door open. According to the clock on the wall, an hour had passed. A dark haired man had entered. A captain, according to his uniform. He didn't look happy to be there. "A meteor almost hit the base, and you decide to go AWOL? Was it the sign from God you were looking for?" Sarcasm dripped off his words.

She could tell before he had even opened his mouth that she wouldn't get anywhere with him. Rather than play along, she repeated her request, "Contact General George Hammond out of Cheyenne Mountain. I need to speak to him." He scoffed at that, "Let me guess, calling Uncle George to bail you out of trouble?"

She didn't respond to that. They would have entered her information into the system when she was detained. She didn't know for certain, but she had to imagine that when they did, word would have gotten back to Hammond. She felt her assumption had payed off when the door opened again.

Someone poked their head in without completely entering, "Sir, there's a call." The captain spoke without turning, "I'll take it once I finish." The head hesitated, "Sir, it's for Trevel." The captain turned without a word. He picked up the phone. "Yes?" he said, unprompted.

He immediately blanched, "Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. Right away, sir." The phone cord was long enough that he crossed the room with it and handed it in to her. She brought it to her ear, "Trevel." She recognized Hammond's voice when he spoke, "Miss Trevel, I understand that Parris Island reported you as AWOL?"

"A meteor landed just outside the base. In light of recent developments, I felt the need to investigate. I was correct," she said cryptically. He was a moment in responding, "Are you confirming a hostile presence?" She would have liked to have gone into more detail, but the captain was still listening, "Yes,sir." He answered much more quickly this time, "The rest of SG-1 is currently away, I need you to handle this. I'll contact the base commander and get a team prepared. Hold tight."

She passed the phone back to the captain. She didn't know what Hammond had told the man, but it must have gotten the point across clear. He replaced the phone and left the room. She went back to the bed, this time with a smile on her face.

Twenty minutes later an MP entered the room, "Ma'am, I've been instructed to escort you to the administrative building." She rose, "Lead the way." They went out the same way they came in, and another vehicle was waiting for them.

It was a quick ride across the base, and the MP led her into the building. A maze of hallways later and she was led into a conference room. A long, slender table ran the center and a speaker sat atop it. More immediately, she found herself in front of a General.

The MP excused himself and closed the door, leaving just the two of them. "I am General Mcmillian, the commander of this facility. In the past half hour I have spoken with both General Hammond and the President. I am to provide you with any support required to complete your objective. Whatever it is." He didn't look happy about it.

She was saved from a response by a knock on the door. "Enter," Mcmillian barked. A young man entered, a folder under his arm. "I have the papers you requested, sir," he said, handing it to the general. He took it before speaking again, "Good. This is Lieutenant Anderson. He is coordinating the recovery efforts for the object," he then turned to address the lieutenant, "This is Kara Trevel. You are to assist her in her operation."

The man offered a quick "Yes,sir," and before she had the chance to speak with him, they were interrupted again. Lopez entered, stopping just inside the threshold. "Sergeant Lopez, reporting as ordered." For everything that had happened in the past few hours, on top of getting called to meet with a general, the woman had kept her steely demeanor intact. Kara was impressed.

Of course, she still didn't know why the woman had been summoned. Her attention was pulled back to the General when he spoke again, "This room is soundproof and a secure line has been established for you. Hammond said you would need this." He handed her the file as he finished. A quick glance inside revealed several nondisclosure agreements. Now she understood why Lopez was here.

Thinking about the upcoming investigation gave her an idea. "General, I could use someone on this who is familiar with the base and the surrounding area. I would like Sergeant Lopez to assist me," Kara said. Lopez, for her part, kept a straight face. The General looked pained when he responded, "Anything you need. Contact me if you need anything else." He was almost out the door before he turned back to her, "What is it exactly you're doing out of that mountain?" Kara smiled at the question, "Deep space radar telemetry." He chuckled, "I have to say, that's a new one." He turned back and left the room.

"Lieutenant, close the door." She leaned back against the table, almost sitting on it. She skimmed the agreements a little more closely before she looked up. When she did, she saw that Lopez and Anderson were both looking at her expectantly. "These are nondisclosure agreements," she began, "I need both of you to sign one before we continue." She placed two on the table and stepped aside, to give them room. "They stipulate that you are not to disclose anything you may have seen tonight, or will see during the course of this operation that is not already common knowledge."

Anderson stepped forward with no delay and signed. He turned and offered his pen to Lopez. She looked for an instant as if she might not sign, but it passed and she did. She knew Lopez must still be brimming with questions, but addressed Anderson first. "Good. Anderson, I need you to cordon off the area around the impact site. A reclamation team will arrive later today. You are to coordinate with them when they do. And have security footage from the past six hours from that side of the base sent here. Dismissed."

The young man left, closing the door behind him. Once they were alone, the question almost exploded out of Lopez, "What the hell is going on?" Kara was almost relieved when it happened, if the woman had been able to keep her composure through this, she would have assumed something was wrong.

"I'll explain what I can, but I'd like to hear your side of events from earlier," Kara told her. Lopez took a breath, "I saw you leave the barracks. No one was supposed to leave, even with the meteor, so I followed. I lost you once you were past the fence. I saw the figure once I entered the clearing. I shouted for the figure to freeze. I didn't know they weren't you until they spun around. Then you tackled me out of the way of whatever they shot at us." Kara nodded as she finished, "How did you know it was me?"

Lopez looked like she had been expecting a different question, "I didn't, not until you tackled me." Kara nodded again. That cleared up why she had been out there in the first place. It also reinforced her decision to request Lopez. Almost anyone would have missed her, especially with the fireworks above. Lopez must be dedicated.

"I believe the meteor was actually an alien ship, and the figure a hostile combatant," Kara told her. "Aliens?" She had been prepared for scepticism, but Lopez sounded like she was asking for clarification, not doubting the claim. It must have been having the staff weapon fired at her. "Aliens," Kara repeated.

Lopez moved past her to take a seat. She buried her face in her hands for a moment before looking back up. "You're black ops," it came out more like an accusation than a question. "Not black ops, just classified," Kara corrected. And then the question she must have been dying to ask since day one, "Why are you here?"

It was a fair question, Kara felt. "I pissed off a senator and all of a sudden I wasn't qualified enough for my position," She told her. Lopez laughed at that. Actually laughed. It was the first time she had heard it from the woman. "Alright, what made you think it was a craft?" Lopez asked, and then added, "Before we got shot at, at least."

"Normally I would have just been suspicious, but with the attempted invasion a few months back, I just wanted to be sure." Lopez needed a moment after that one, maybe she should have softened the blow there. "Those two fireballs no one could explain," Lopez finally said trailing off. Kara nodded her confirmation.

"I need to make a call and then we can begin," She told Lopez. The woman made to get up, but Kara stopped her, "You can stay." Lopez sat back down. It actually worked out, because the phone was more complicated than she had been expecting. Lopez gave her a weird look, but still helped set it up. Kara entered the number and then pressed the button for the speaker.

It was a moment before someone picked up on the other end. "Hammond," the voice said, and she jumped right in. "General, this is a secure line. And I have Sergeant Lopez here as well. She witnessed the event and will be assisting me with this."

"Good. The news is reporting this as a meteor impact, you said you can confirm otherwise?" the speaker said. "Yes, sir. I don't have visual confirmation of a craft, but I was attacked at the impact site by someone wielding a staff weapon," she told him. "Good enough. Captain Carter is still offworld. I have Sergeant Siler preparing a team. They leave ASAP and should arrive before sunrise, local time." Lopez gave her a look at the mention of offworld, but kept silent.

"I have a team already securing the site and waiting for their arrival," she said. "Keep me appraised," Hammond ordered, and the line went dead. "'Offworld', do we have spaceships?" Lopez asked the minute the line disconnected. "I can't really go into the details, unless it becomes relevant to the operation." Lopez didn't look happy, but she accepted it.

"We need to stop at the weapons lockup and then get back to the scene," she told her. "yes, ma'am," Lopez said, standing. Kara let her lead them across the base, it was faster that way. The tired looking corporal at the lockup had insisted that they fill out a mountain of paperwork, but was quickly dissuaded. Kara grabbed a thigh holster, an M9, and several extra magazines.

Before they left, Lopez asked, "You know how to use that, right?" They hadn't taken their live fire test yet, so Kara could understand her concern. "Yes," Kara said as reassuringly as possible. She hadn't fired one before, but a weapon was a weapon, no matter the planet.

She would have liked something more substantial, like a P90, but something so conspicuous would only be a hindrance. She was hunting one confirmed target in a forested, populated area. Not for the first time. They would follow any tracks left behind, question the locals, and all without drawing any unnecessary attention.

Reality never played nice with others. Lopez was able to lead her back to the clearing, but finding tracks was proving challenging. The crew she could hear working must have passed through here. Or there had been more first responders than she believed. She was not an expert tracker by any means, but it had been taught to her as an Initiate. Searching under a full moon helped.

She had almost given up when she finally found what she was looking for. Lopez was farther back, searching, and Kara shouted her name to get her attention. Lopez was almost immediately by her side, "Find something?" she asked. "Here," Kara said, pointing to the heavyset footprint of someone in Jaffa armor. "They lead this way."

The two of them slowly followed the trail. They lost it twice, but had been able to double back and pick it up again. It hadn't really mattered, in the end. The tracks led to a paved road. "There's a town not that far that way, if they didn't change directions," Lopez told her.

Kara thought for a moment. It was past 3 AM by this point. There was no reason to keep going. It had been hours since the crash, anyone who might have seen something would almost certainly be asleep by now. That was another concern. Kara's healing ability allowed her to mitigate the symptoms of sleep deprivation, but Lopez must be past 24 hours by now. She assumed the woman could handle it, but there was no reason to make her. Better to have her at one hundred percent if this ended in a firefight.

"Let's head back. We can keep looking in the morning," She told her. Lopez didn't argue. When they reentered the conference room, she saw someone had deposited two laptops on the table, and a stack of discs, each with a unique label. Kara assumed it was a labeling system for the camera's, but couldn't decipher it.

"I don't expect to find anything, but it would help if we have knew what this guy looked like," she told Lopez. She took a seat and and started on the first disc, Lopez did the same across from her. Even fast-forwarded, she knew it would take hours to get through all of it.

She was just finishing the last disc when there was a knock on the door. A few of the cameras had caught her leaving the base, but none the Jaffa. Lopez had been asleep on the floor for a few hours, but was instantly alert at the noise. "Enter," Kara told them. A private opened the door, "Ma'am, an envoy is waiting for you outside."

"Thank you," she told him. She turned to ask if Lopez was ready, but the woman was already standing, so instead she said, "Let's go." She closed the laptop and left the room. The sun was just cresting the horizon when she stepped outside. The air was crisp and the birds chirping.

Siler was standing beside a Humvee, he stood straighter as he saw them approaching. "Sergeant Siler, Sergeant Lopez," Kara introduced. "I sent the rest ahead with the equipment," he told her. He started to say something else, but stopped himself. "We can talk more at the site," she told him.

There was no direct access, so their driver got them as close as they could, and they walked the rest, same as before. Stepping onto the beach, she saw a hive of activity. There was a stack of crates to the side, most likely carried down the same path they used, and people moving back and forth. Some faces she recognized from the SGC, but just as many were new to her.

The site looked the same as it did the previous night, with the exception of a small tent set up near the water, more crates beside it. It took her a moment to find Anderson in the sea of faces, near the tent. She led her group over when she did.

"Anderson," she said in way of a greeting. "Ma'am," he replied, and then continued, "If the smoke was any indication, the object is about thirty feet straight out." Without seeing the object, that was as good as they could get. "How deep is that?" she asked him. "About forty feet, depending on where it came to a rest."

She nodded, taking in the information, "Will any of that be a problem?" she asked Siler. "No, we anticipated something like that," he replied. "Good. This is Lieutenant Anderson, he'll be assisting you," she said. The two men shook hands.

"Now, how are we getting it out?" Kara asked them. "We plan to winch it out, as long as it's not too dense," Siler told her, and then Anderson jumped in, "We thought that would be the case, so we brought scuba gear. And the tent here to change." Scuba, another wonderful human innovation. "OK, but I go down first," she told them.

Anderson just nodded, but Siler spoke up, "You know how to scuba dive?" She didn't, and suspected he assumed as much, "No, but without Carter I'm the closest thing we have to an expert. And besides, it might be dangerous." Siler nodded at that, and it was Anderson who spoke up, "What's down there?"

Right, she hadn't told him. "Classified," Lopez jumped in without elaborating. He still looked worried, but stepped to the side and opened one of the crates. He shuffled some it's contents aside, before coming out with a wetsuit. "This should fit you," he said, handing it to her.

She took it from him and stepped into the tent. Getting into it proved more of a challenge than she had thought. It took some fighting and more time than she would have liked, but she was able to squeeze into it. When she stepped out, Anderson was holding the tank she would need and Lopez hadn't moved, but Siler was helping coordinate setting up a metal frame of some sort. They had to move the ship somewhere, she reasoned.

She set her clothes on the crates and handed her weapon to Lopez. "Let's do this," she said. She was glad Anderson knew what he was doing, because it was more complicated than she had assumed. Was it a coincidence or was he overseeing this because he did?

"Any last advice?" she asked once it was on. "Don't hold your breath, and the current at the surface isn't necessarily the current at the bottom," he told her. She already knew the second piece, but the first was useful. "Alright, here goes," she said putting on the mask and stepping to the water.

It was about as cool as she expected and the rocks were unpleasant underfoot, but she was quickly out far enough she couldn't stand. She swam out what she thought was thirty feet and turned back to make sure she was lined up with the beach. It was nice to be back in the water, made her feel like a kid again. She had missed it once she was discovered.

Once she was properly aligned, she gave a thumbs up to the beach. Lopez gave her one in reply, and she dove. The water was murky, but she'd swam in worse. She got to the bottom without seeing anything, must not have been directly over it. She started swimming in an ever expanding circle to find it.

Once she found it, she couldn't believe she had missed it. It was large, larger than a Death Glider. Coming in above it showed it was shaped like a pyramid with a bulbous side. As she swam lower, she saw that there was a massive hole in the back. She flipped a coin in her mind and swam around it to the left, looking for a hatch.

She must have chosen the wrong way, because she got to the front without one. She swam closer, to get a look inside. There were four windows for what she assumed was the cockpit. The first three were fine, but there was a noticeable crack in the fourth. It was definitely flooded.

She kept swimming around it and quickly found the hatch. Closer inspection revealed a small protrusion beside it. She felt around the edge of it, looking for a seam or latch. She gave a quick tug when she found it. Inside was what appeared to be a keypad of sorts, the symbols were clearly Goa'uld. She was about to give one an experimental push when she finally noticed the state of it.

The gold was discolored. She had first credited that to the murky water, but that wasn't the case. One of the buttons was even cracked. Clearly there was more to the fireball than just atmospheric entry. Even with the obvious damage, she gave a button a push, nothing happened. She continued her circle to the back of the craft.

The Jaffa had to have gotten out somehow. There was only one way left. The edges of the hole were jagged, and bowed out. There must have been a catastrophic engine or reactor failure on the other side of the wall. She tried to squeeze through. She thought she could make it, but the tank was getting stuck.

With no other choice, she swam back up. She surfaced about twenty feet farther out from where she had gone down. She waved a hand in the air and pointed down when she saw Lopez wave back. It looked like she relayed the information to Siler as she was swimming in. The two of them circled up when she finally came ashore.

"What have we got?" he asked her. Kara pulled her mask off before answering, "I don't know, never seen it before. Bigger than a Death Glider." Lopez looked worried, "Death Glider?" she asked. "It's just what they call it, about the size of an F18" Kara explained. "The hatch mechanism is damaged, so I couldn't get inside. Something blew a hole out the back. I couldn't fit with the tank, but I want to try again without it."

"Is that a good idea?" Siler asked. Kara shrugged, "I grew up on the water, I'll be fine." She thought for another minute, "You should have a team ready to follow me in, in case I don't come up." Her attention was drawn back to the metal frame when the men around it began to lift a tent over it. "That needs to be another ten feet tall," she told Siler, pointing to it. He excused himself to stop them.

Getting out of the gear was easier than getting in, but she was glad Lopez was there to help. She wanted to go right back in, but decided it was best to wait until the rescue team was ready. "How long have we known about aliens?" Lopez asked her, to fill the silence, Kara assumed.

"A few years now," Kara answered, without any details. Lopez just shook her head. Once both the divers had changed, Kara decided to head back in, signaling the divers. She kept the mask and flashlight, but left everything else behind. She swam back to where she thought she had surfaced, took a deep breath, and dove.

She was a few feet off, but she was able to correct on the way down. She didn't have time to delay. She lined herself up with the hole and started to pull herself along. It was still a tight fit. She saw it quickly opened up to a small room.

She was overeager, careless. She pulled herself free too quickly and felt a searing heat run along her back. Turning back she saw she caught herself on a jagged piece of metal jutting up. It wouldn't matter, the wound was already closing.

She appeared to be in an engine room, or rather had been an engine room. The were clear signs of a fire, not to mention debris from the explosion. The door across from her was open, thankfully. She swam through into a large, open area, a ring transporter in the center. It was surprisingly empty, except for the bodies.

She swam closer, to get a better look. One was dressed rather opulently, her first thought was Goa'uld. But they were manacled to the wall. The other was clearly a Jaffa, and it looked like he had been too close to the explosion. So many questions, but she didn't have time. Swimming to the far wall revealed another door. There was another keypad with different symbols beside it.

She hadn't expected it to do anything when she pressed a button, but it did. There was a heavy thunk from behind the panel, and the door popped open. It wasn't far, but it was enough to get her fingers in and force the door open. It took some effort to do so, and she was starting to feel the burn in her lungs.

The door opened into the cockpit. The windows and the console were directly in front of her. A quick glance revealed them to be heavily damaged. It was dark and murky but she could still see what looked like more fire damage. The hatch was to her right and it, thankfully, looked better than the rest of the cockpit.

It had the same keypad as the other side. Her first press did nothing, the second as well. The third press and the door started to open with a whine. It go about halfway open before the whine, and the door, stopped. Whatever power had been left must have just run out. She was able to brace herself in the new gap, another effort and the door was open.

It was really starting to burn now. Straight up. She broke the surface and took a deep gulp of air. She saw Lopez waving from the shore and gave a thumbs up. She had so many more questions now. Who was the prisoner? How had the Jaffa gotten out?

Another few breaths and she was back under. Getting back in was easy. This time, as she entered, she noticed the seats in the cockpit. A pilot, copilot, and two passengers. Loose confirmation that it was only the one Jaffa. That was good. Back in the large room, she took another look at the prisoner. They didn't have any obvious injuries and a search revealed nothing on their person.

There was no reason to stay fixated, they weren't the only mystery. There was still the other Jaffa. Closer inspection revealed him a Jaffa of Apophis. This had to be connected, somehow, to the invasion. Still, how had the Jaffa escaped? She closed her eyes and just floated. The answers would come to her, she didn't need to force it. She was right. She had just glossed over it the first time. The ring transporter.

Now that she was moving toward it, she saw there was a lot of dirt on the floor around it. That must have been it. She swam out the hatch and around the base. It was at the back. She hadn't been able to tell from the height of the hole, but the the ground wasn't even beneath it. The ship was also angled up slightly, leaving a gap. It wouldn't have been large enough for her to stand in, but deeper in revealed a larger circular cut into the ground.

With that answer, at least, she resurfaced. Another big gulp and she set off for shore. She wasn't sure if Lopez had said something to him while she was coming in, but Siler was making his way toward them as she was walking up. "I got in," she said once he joined them. "We need two bodybags and I'm not sure what we'll get from it. There was pretty substantial damage inside. But on the bright side it looks like there's only the one runner." Siler had been nodding along, "And the bodies, Jaffa?"

Kara shook her head at that, "I don't know. One of them is, the other looks more like a Goa'uld. But it was shackled to the wall. I don't know what to make of it," she told him. Lopez was looking back and forth between the two, confused. "Two different races; the Jaffa are foot soldiers and the Goa'uld the commanders," Kara explained.

"Why here?" Kara asked, mostly rhetorically, "The entirety of the planet, and they crash not two miles from one of the few people aware of them." She hadn't been expecting a reply, but was surprised when Siler spoke up, "I don't think it's a coincidence," he began, "What's the one unique thing here?" he asked. Now that she thought about it, that made sense.

"So they arrive two months after the invasion with no sign of their master," she began, thinking out loud. "Their ship is damaged and they need somewhere to land. So they target me?" she finished. "Why would they pick you?" Lopez asked. She had been stoic about almost everything up to this point, but she couldn't hide the look of shock that washed over her.

"You're an alien?" Lopez asked, just above a whisper. "Yeah," Kara replied before moving on, "It's a valid question though. They might have only been able to determine that I wasn't human, not what I was." she postulated. "That was my thought," Siler added.

Kara sighed. "Nothing more we could do now. We'll leave you to it Sergeant," she said. Getting out of the wetsuit was easier and she left it with the creates when she was changed back. Hopefully no one asked about the damage. She started back to the road, and motioned for Lopez to follow her. Once they were back in the trees, Lopez broke the silence, "I should have guessed sooner. Is that your real hair color?"

Kara chuckled before she responded, "Yes it is. And for the record, I didn't know what a ren faire was until the night before I got here." Lopez nodded enthusiastically at that. "Are you here as an ambassador or liaison or something?" she asked next. "No." Kara answered. She hadn't meant it to sound so sad. Lopez must have picked up on it, because she stopped asking questions after that.

They found the Humvee where they had left it, the driver leaning patiently against it. "You said there was a town the direction of the footprints?" Kara asked Lopez. "Yes," she replied, "Port Royale. It's a one road town, so our guy would really stick out." Kara turned to the driver, "You can drive us around without asking too many questions, right Corporal?" He nodded enthusiastically, "Yes, ma'am."

The drive into town was shorter than Kara had been expecting. Lopez had been right, it really was a one road town. There was a row of shops on either side of the road, but Kara could see where they stopped before they had even pulled level with the first. Their driver pulled over in the center, and Kara and Lopez got out.

She took a quick look around. There were some people milling about, but not many. Across the street she saw a building with a sign saying 'Sheriff', "That law enforcement?" she asked Lopez, pointing. "Yes, should be somebody there by now," she answered. Kara stopped to check before crossing the road, but needn't bother, there were no cars in sight.

When Kara tried the door, she found it unlocked. She entered into a large open room. There was a desk by the front, and more behind it organized into rows. Judging by the desks, there couldn't have been more eight peace officers assigned here.

The room had been empty when they walked in, but a door along the back wall opened shortly and a rotund, mustached man came through. He didn't seem to see them at first, distracted by some papers in his hands. He looked surprised to see them when he looked up, "Can I help you ladies?" he asked, approaching them.

"I'm Operative Kara Trevel, with the Air Force," she introduced herself, "This is Sergeant Lopez. We are tracking a criminal who was seen not far from here last night and were hoping you could help." He didn't look too pleased with her request, "What's the Air Force tracking a criminal for?" he asked. "I'm afraid that's classified," she told him. That didn't seem to appease him, "Alright," he finally said with a sigh, "What can you tell me?"

"We are looking for a tall man, probably wearing some sort of armor," she told him. She didn't know for a fact that they were looking for a man, nut she had yet to see a female Jaffa, so the odds were greater. She had been expecting him to ask questions, but he almost looked relieved at the description, "Yeah, old Henstridge had one of my deputies out last night. Claimed a bald man in chainmail with a face tattoo broke into her shed. Said she shot him. Last week she called because she said she had been abducted by aliens, so we didn't exactly take her seriously. I guess we should have."

"Can you give me her address?" Kara asked him. He nodded and began searching through the files on his desk. He quickly came up with a piece of paper, "Here you go," he said handing it to her, "Be careful, she's not all there anymore." Kara took it, "Thank you for your time," she told him.

Once they were outside, Lopez turned to her, "Abducted, is that a real thing?" she asked. "I have no idea. It's not an impossibility," she answered. Lopez looked disappointed at the answer. They crossed back over to the Humvee. Kara slipped back into the passenger seat and give the corporal the paper.

It took about twenty minutes to get to the address. It was a wooded farmhouse up a long drive. Kara was two steps out of the vehicle when the shot rang out. Where had it come from? She quickly unholstered her weapon. The second floor window! Two steps back. She threw open the door for cover. The others were using the vehicle for cover as well.

"This is private property," a voice shouted from the house. She had been right about the window. "Mrs. Henstridge?" Kara shouted back. "What do you want?" came the reply. Kara reholstered her weapon and stepped out of cover, arms raised. It might not have been the best idea, but it was the one she had. "My name is Kara, we are responding to the report of a trespasser on your property."

There was silence for a moment, long enough for Kara to begin to doubt her decision, when the front door opened. An elderly woman stepped out, shotgun in hand. "No one believed me," she said. "We do," Kara refuted, "Can you show us where you saw the man?"

"Of course," she replied. "Wait here Corporal," Kara told him, then she and Lopez followed the woman around the house. The shed had seen better days, Kara thought. The door was open and as she got closer, she saw there was blood on the ground as well. "He was just here when I shot him, ran off that way," she said, pointing off into the woods.

"Thank you," Kara said. She turned to Lopez, "Let's go." There was little foliage along the ground here. Lopez found the trail first, "Over here," she called out. Kara moved toward the sound. Lopez had been right, the footprints were clearly defined, and there was more blood, she saw. The footsteps led farther into the forest, and as they moved they found more footprints and more blood. Kara didn't know how much blood the Jaffa had lost, but even with a symbiote they couldn't afford to loose much more.

They found the Jaffa about half a mile into the woods. He was sitting on the ground, leaning against a tree, motionless. Kara motioned for Lopez to stay back and slowly approached. He was pale, she saw, and his staff weapon lay on the ground beside him. She crouched down and felt for a pulse. Nothing.

It was anticlimactic. She had been expecting a chase. To corner him in some building. A shootout. She looked back and shook her head at Lopez. "I'll go back and get a team out here. Say with him, but don't get too close." Kara told her. So she walked back the way she came. There was no sign of Henstridge. The Corporal radioed it in, and forty five minutes later she was leading the recovery team back to the body.

The team was efficient, and they were quickly back on the move. The trek back was uneventful, and soon the body was on it's way to the base. Lopez excused herself when they arrived, to see to the other recruits. So Kara found herself back in the conference room calling Hammond, alone.

It took a moment before the call was answered. It didn't take her long to update him on the situation. There wasn't much to tell, the Jaffa was dead and Siler was recovering the ship. She had been expecting him to tell her to complete the training here, but he didn't.

"There's been a development here we could have used your help with. Carter was briefly host to a member of a Goa'uld resistance movement. I told the President that situations like that are exactly why we need our best people here, and he agreed. Pack your bag and get back here; the rest of SG-1 is waiting."

She hadn't acquired much during her stay, and so she was quickly packed and ready to go. She could hear the other recruits whispering behind her back as she left. Hopefully Lopez would make up some elaborate story about her absence to keep them in line. It was another hour before her ride was ready. She found herself at home in the C-130. The noise was still bad and the seat uncomfortable, but it was a small price to pay to get back to the SGC. She dozed off ten minutes after takeoff.


End file.
